Publication Type
PhD Dissertation
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
3-2025
Abstract
The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has changed how consumers make decisions and how sellers advertise their products. This dissertation examines two key aspects: consumer choice modeling in dynamic online shopping environments and sellers' strategic advertising decisions in competitive markets.
The first essay introduces a Hierarchical Bayesian model to improve the understanding of Individual-Variant Choice Sets (IVCS), where consumers' choice sets change over time and include multiple selections. Traditional models struggle to account for these complexities due to restrictive assumptions. The proposed model introduces a flexible covariance structure that captures perceived similarities between alternatives, leading to better predictive accuracy. Validation through simulations and two empirical studies: a hotel consideration set conjoint study and an analysis of property listing advertisements demonstrates that this approach outperforms existing standard models in capturing consumers’ choices.
The second essay investigates how sellers manage search advertising portfolios under competitive pressure. Unlike prior research that focuses on single-product advertising, this study explores strategic decisions across multiple products. Sellers face a trade-off between an expansive approach—advertising a variety of products to attract diverse consumers—and a defensive approach— focusing on similar products to maintain visibility. Using data from an online property trading platform, the study finds that as competition intensifies, sellers increase advertising volume but adopt less diverse portfolios. Newer sellers tend to favor defensive strategies, whereas experienced sellers exhibit greater flexibility in managing competition.
By integrating advanced modeling techniques with empirical analysis, this dissertation enhances understanding of consumers and sellers engagement on ecommerce platforms. It provides valuable implications for platform managers, highlighting the need to balance competition and product diversity to maintain consumer engagement.
Keywords
Search advertising, Choice models, Hierarchical Bayesian modelling, Individual-variant choice sets, Expansive and defensive portfolio strategies, Portfolio diversity
Degree Awarded
PhD in Business (Marketing)
Discipline
E-Commerce
Supervisor(s)
CHANDUKALA, Sandeep Rao
First Page
1
Last Page
102
Publisher
Singapore Management University
City or Country
Singapore
Citation
WANG, Yichen.
Exploring business' and consumers' engagement on e-commerce platforms. (2025). 1-102.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/680
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.