Research
Marketing Implications of Sustainability
Equalizing Access: Heterogeneous Effects of Micromobility on Local Business
with P. K. Kannan
preparing for submission to Marketing Science
Honorable Mention, EMAC-Sheth Foundation Sustainability Research (2024)
Micromobility is gaining popularity as a sustainable transport alternative in urban areas. While policymakers introduce such vehicles as e-scooters or e-bikes to improve access, a systematic evaluation of the (heterogeneous) benefits of micromobility for local businesses is insufficient, which limits practical implications. Analyzing GPS-based mobility patterns data with nationwide e-scooter adoptions in U.S. cities, this paper examines how micromobility introduces consumer foot traffic to restaurants. A staggered difference-in-differences analysis suggests that micromobility increases restaurant visits and these benefits are greater in cities with lower accessibility. Moreover, less popular restaurants enjoy greater foot traffic increases in the presence of micromobility, which alleviates the inequality in access and brings the long tail an advantage. This research offers practical implications for improving the local economy and developing sustainable communities.
The Impact of Air Pollution on Consumer Spending
with Michael Trusov
revising for 3rd-round review at Journal of Marketing
Winner, ISMS Doctoral Dissertation Early-Stage Research Grant (2022)
Air pollution threatens economies and societies worldwide. Despite our awareness that air pollution substantially impairs cognition and emotions, the impact of air pollution on consumer behavior is largely unknown. Analyzing credit card transactions and air quality readings data in South Korea, this paper shows that consumer spending increases with air pollution. The effect is pronounced for hedonic consumption that helps repair the negative affect caused by air pollution, implying affect regulation as the underlying process. The causal explanation to the main findings is strengthened in multiple robustness tests and by a lab experiment. This research encourages policymakers to protect consumers from additional undesirable impacts of air pollution, such as overconsumption of pleasure-seeking categories. More importantly, this paper recommends managers consider marketing programs that could improve consumer well-being in increasingly unsustainable environments.
Retail Management in Digital Marketing
Do Handwritten Notes Benefit Online Retailers? A Field Experiment
Sanghwa Kim, Jeonghye Choi, and Seung Hyun Kim
Journal of Interactive Marketing (2022), 57 (4), 651-664.
Despite technological advances in online retailing, human touch continues to be essential to retailer-customer relationships. While a handwritten note is a simple way of making relationships personal, its economic significance and its alignment with current marketing practices are less known. This paper evaluates the benefits of a handwritten note for an online retailer and identifies major boundary conditions of its benefits. A randomized field experiment shows that a handwritten note, whether an original or its photocopy, increases customer spending on their next visit. More importantly, the presence of additional marketing incentives (e.g., giveaways, price discounts) attenuates the beneficial effect of a handwritten note, while those effects are pronounced only for loyal customers. A follow-up study reveals that, in the absence of marketing incentives, perceived warmth drives the focal effect. This paper joins the critical thesis in appreciating the value of human touch in an increasingly digital world.
Does Gamification Increase Product Sales? Evidence from an Online Grocery Retailer
initial evidence available, lab study design in progress
Retailers have endeavored to merchandise their products in digital environments (e.g., Metaverse, mobile app, etc.) and provide a more-than-digital experience to consumers. For example, they introduce products on mobile games in the hope of increasing product awareness, cultivating product knowledge, and eventually turning the game users into their customer base. However, the effectiveness of gamification in product sales remains an open question. This project focuses on a unique campaign launched by an online grocery retailer in South Korea that introduced select items on a mobile game for cooking plays (cf. Overcooked). A fixed-effects panel Poisson regression in the difference-in-differences framework shows a 24.65% sales increase for gamified products, demonstrating the efficacy of digital gamification strategy in retailing.
