Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/300012 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 24-033
Publisher: 
ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, Mannheim
Abstract: 
I analyze a model of directed search in which a consumer inspects a finite number of products sharing attributes with each others. The consumer discovers her valuation for the attributes of the inspected products and adapts her search strategy based on what she has learned. The consumer anticipates the optimal paths that arise after different realizations; this generates a search rule that accounts for learning systematically. In this search environment, a multiproduct seller commits to a menu of horizontally differentiated products. The seller can exploit the fact that the emerging search paths reveal the consumer's preferences: by setting different prices for ex ante identical products, the seller can encourage specific paths to arise and exploit the information that the consumer learned through search. In some cases, the seller optimally limits the set of available products.
Subjects: 
consumer search
directed search
learning
multiproduct monopoly
pricing
product portfolio
JEL: 
D42
D83
L12
L15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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