City Research Online

Opaque selling

Anderson, S. P. & Celik, L. ORCID: 0000-0002-7668-6358 (2020). Opaque selling. Information Economics and Policy, 52, article number 100869. doi: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2020.100869

Abstract

We study “opaque” selling in multiproduct environments – a marketing practice in which sellers strategically withhold product information by keeping important characteristics of their products hidden until after purchase. We show that a monopolist will always use opaque selling, but it is not first-best optimal to do so. However, opaque selling might be used at the constrained optimum (with the monopolist's pricing behavior taken as given). For linear disutility costs, it is optimal for a monopolist to offer a single opaque product.

Publication Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publisher Keywords: Opaque products, Product line design, Product differentiation, Price discrimination
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Departments: School of Policy & Global Affairs > Economics
SWORD Depositor:
[thumbnail of Opaque_rev2_250320.pdf]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (592kB) | Preview

Export

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

Actions (login required)

Admin Login Admin Login