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Channel Strategies and Marketing Mix in a Connected World pp 47–70Cite as

Buyer Valuation Uncertainty and Firm Information Provision Strategies

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Part of the book series: Springer Series in Supply Chain Management ((SSSCM,volume 9))

Abstract

This chapter reviews research on buyer valuation uncertainty originated from information asymmetry between the firm and consumers, and the firm’s information provision strategy. Before purchase, consumers could be uncertain about the product’s vertical attributes, i.e., quality uncertainty, and/or the product’s horizontal attributes, i.e., fit uncertainty. For each type of uncertainty, we discuss the firm’s inventive and instruments to disclose information, as well as other mechanisms to reveal information that help consumers resolve such valuation uncertainty. We then review recent literature on advance selling and opaque selling strategies, where the firm benefits from creating consumer valuation uncertainty. We conclude the chapter with discussions on future research directions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Jane Z. Gu

  2. Graduate School of Management, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Rachel R. Chen

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  1. Jane Z. Gu
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Correspondence to Rachel R. Chen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bensadoun School of Retail Management, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Saibal Ray

  2. Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Shuya Yin

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Gu, J.Z., Chen, R.R. (2020). Buyer Valuation Uncertainty and Firm Information Provision Strategies. In: Ray, S., Yin, S. (eds) Channel Strategies and Marketing Mix in a Connected World. Springer Series in Supply Chain Management, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31733-1_3

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