Pricing in the Digital Networked Economy 数字产品定价

The Networked Economy (15): Information Management, Strategy, and Innovation网络经济：信息管理，战略和创新 Pricing in the Digital Networked Economy数字产品定价

Chris Anderson: Free! • The new model is based not on cross-subsidies -- the shifting of costs from one product to another -- but on the cost of products falling fast. • The last debates over free versus pay online are ending. • New York Times. • Casual games. • Google. • Trends • Extension of cross-subsidy to more industries. • Anything that touches digital networks feels the effect of falling costs. • Transistors, storage, or bandwidth: cheap enough to be safely disregarded. • Free doesn't mean that someone isn't making money. • The monetary benefits of Craigslist are distributed among its users.

The priceless economy's six categories • Freemium (tiers or a pro version, one percent of users support the rest) • Advertising • Cross-subsidies • Zero marginal cost (online music) • Labor exchange (Yahoo Answers) • Gift economy (Wikipedia)

Scarce: Then and now • What is scarce? • Before: Manufacturing and distribution • Now: Reputation and attention

Digital convergence数字聚合 • Lots of information is in digital form大多信息均以数字形式存在 • Why is this important? Economics!为何重要？经济学！ • Common infrastructure for 通用的基础设施 • Processing, 数据处理 • Storing, and数据存储 • Communicating数据通讯 •  Prices dropped dramatically价格大幅下降 •  Positive feedback, further accelerating development正反馈，加速的良性循环 • Convergence of数字汇聚 • Communication通讯 • Computers电脑 • Consumer electronics电器 • Games游戏 • Home entertainment家庭娱乐

Economics of digital goods 数字商品的经济意义 • Digital convergence / universality 数字聚合 / 通用性 • Processing, storage generic … 处理、存储通用 • Delivery, communication generic … 传输、通信通用 • TCP/IP：传输控制协议/网际协议 • … thus inexpensive所以便宜 • Economics of digital goods 数字商品的经济意义 • Initial cost (fixed cost) high 初始成本（固定成本）高 • Marginal cost low (almost zero) 边际成本低（近乎为零） • Distribution cheap, easy, and fast分销成本低，分销容易、快捷 • Supply-side economies of scale (production)供应方规模经济 • Network effects 形成网络效应 • Demand-side economies of scale (network).… 需求方的规模经济… • Important for digital goods, where speed etc amplified through technology! 对数字商品至关重要，速度等通过技术获得提升！ • … can create lock-in … 需要锁定客户

Historical categories历史分类 • Physical 实物产品 • Service 服务产品 • Information 信息产品 • Classify these products:请分类:

Pure information products纯信息产品 Pure service product Pure physical product

Agenda教学纲要 • Digital goods数字商品 • Digital convergence数字融合 • Properties and economics特征和经济学 • Pricing 定价 • Personalized pricing个性化定价 • Group pricing群体定价 • Versioning版本设计 • Bundling捆绑定价 • Reading阅读 • Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian, “Information Rules”教材《信息规则》 • Chapters 1-3 and 5-7第1-3章、第5-7章

Types of digital goods数字商品的类型 • Numbers数字 • Text文本 • Sound声音 • Images图像 • Video视像 • Games游戏 • Software软件

Properties of digital goods (information goods) 数字商品的属性 • Original and copy are indistinguishable原件与拷贝毫无差别 • Digital goods are infinitely replicable数字商品可无限复制 • Digital goods are easy to distribute数字商品易于分销

Information-like goods信息类商品 • Cost structure of information-like goods信息类商品的成本结构 • High fixed costs of production生产固定成本高 • Near-zero marginal cost of (re-)production近乎零的生产边际成本 • Examples例子 • News, financial information, books, music, movies, research 新闻、财务信息、图书、音乐、电影、研究 • Microprocessors微处理器 • Telecommunication network 无线通信网络

Pricing of information-like goods 信息类商品的定价 • Pricing is difficult…定价比较困难 • … but there are some guidelines:但也存在一些指导原则 • Understand your cost structure了解你的成本结构 • Physical vs ‘information-like’ aspects实物与‘信息类’方面 • Understand your market了解市场 • Opportunity, customers, competitors机遇、客户、竞争对手 • Notes注 • Information acquisition vs information use 信息获取与使用 • Music, e.g., Napster (1998 vs 2008)音乐，如Napster • Value-based pricing价值定价

Pricing: Flawed pricing practices定价：有缺陷的定价实践 • Cost-plus pricing: Adding a standard markup to the cost of the product加入成本的定价：在产品成本的基础上增加一个标准的涨价幅度 • Purpose is to ensure a fair rate of return目的是保证公平的回报率 • Product- average cost- price-value-Customer产品——平均成本——价格——价值——顾客Problems 问题

Pricing: Flawed pricing practices定价：有缺陷的定价实践 • Market share based pricing: Setting price based on market share targets and goals基于市场份额的定价：定价基于市场份额的目标 • The purpose is to meet market share goals at the expense of profit margin目的是在利润的范围内达到市场份额目标 • The key assumption is that profits increase with market share in the long run假设长期内随着市场份额的增加利润也增加 • Problems问题

Motivation Questions动因问题 • As a buyer, what information do you use to determine how much you are willing to pay for a Dell XPS Laptop?作为买家，你通过什么信息来决定购买戴尔XPS笔记本电脑的价格？ • What can a company do to influence consumer’s willingness to pay?公司怎么来影响顾客支付的意愿呢？

EVC Analysis对于顾客经济价值的分析 • Economic value to the customer (EVC): the maximum amount a customer should be willing to pay, assuming that s/he is fully informed about the benefits of the product and the offerings of competitors对于顾客的经济价值：假设顾客完全知道产品的益处和竞争者所提供的产品/服务而愿意支付最大金额 • EVC = Reference Value + Differentiation Value对于顾客的经济价值=参考价值+区别价值 • Reference value: the price of perceived closest substitute adjusted by difference in quantity used参考价值：根据使用数量不同而进行调整最接近的替代品的价格 • Differentiation value: value of a product’s attribute difference between your offering and the close stsubstitute (+ or -)区别价值：与最接近的替代品不同的产品属性的价值

EVC AnalysisEVC分析 • Positive Differentiation Value 正向差异价值 • Reference Value 参考价值 • Negative Differentiation Value 负向差异价值 • EVC Differentiation Value EVC差异价值 • Superior performance 绩效更优越 • Better reliability 可靠性更高 • Additional features 附加的特性 • Lower maintenance cost 维护成本更低 • Faster service 服务更快 • Reference Value 参考价值

Communicating EVC to Your Customers让你的消费者知道EVC • Do not assume customers know EVC不要认为消费者已经知道EVC • Educate customers is important when在以下情况下，指导消费者非常重要： • The product delivers a stream of benefits over time产品需要经过一段时间才会显现出一系列的好处 • The product is highly innovative产品高度创新 • The fact that consumers are not buying your product is not by itself a reason to cut price. It may be a reason to change your marketing program to justify the price事实上，不要仅仅因为消费者没有购买你的产品而去降价，原因可能是要你改变营销手段去证实你的价格

Use of EVCEVC的使用 • Advantages 优势 • Describe decision process of sophisticated purchasers可以描述有经验的购买者的决策过程 • Enables firm to distinguish between under-promoted vs overpriced product使公司能够区分促销不足和定价过高的产品 • Can indicate attribute improvements which give largest gain in EVC能够明确如何改进属性可以获得最大的回报 • I.e., Focus your improvement effort也就是可以导向为之所作的努力 • Can be a great aid to sales force可以很好地辅助提高销售能力 • Limitations局限 • Actual willingness to pay depends perceived differentiation value and perceived value of the competitive product实际愿意支付的金额取决于消费者对该产品的价值和同类产品的比较所得出的价值差异

Price-Quality Effect: http://www.sephora.com价格质量影响 • Flower by KenzoKenzo制造的花 • Kenzo‘s soft floral with hints of violet, vanilla, and rose, uniquely packaged in poppy embossed bottles is a contemporary fragrance for the modern, city woman who looks to nature for inspiration and renewal.Kenzo制造的紫罗兰，香草和玫瑰，被包在深红色的浮雕花瓶中，散发着现代的香气，专门为那些看上来自然的现代城市女人。 • VERA WANG • Created for a man of taste and refinement, Vera Wang. For Men is masculine, seductive, aromatic oriental, designed to elicit desire, emotion and passion. Vera Wang专为有品味和精致的那人准备。具有男子汉气概，诱人的，芬芳的，专为渴望，情感和激情的再现。

Pricing strategies for information-like goods 信息类商品的定价战略 • Personalized pricing 个性化定价 • Group pricing 群体定价 • Versioning (multiple products with self-selection) 版本管理（多种产品、自助选择） • Bundling捆绑定价

p p PRICE价格 REVENUE收入 q q DEMAND需求 1. Personalized pricing1. 个性化定价 • The ideal economic scenario 理想的经济状况 • For a single product, find out how much each customer is willing to pay对于某件产品而言，首先确定每一位客户愿意支付多少 • This amount is called “Willingness To Pay” (WTP) • Then set the price for that customer = WTP然后设定价格 = WTP REVENUE收入 vs

1. Personalized pricing1. 个性化定价 • Problem: Customers won’t tell you their WTP directly问题是，客户不会直接说出WTP • Record and analyze past behavior of customer (purchasing patterns)记录、分析客户以往的购物习惯 • E.g., response to promotions如对促销的反应 • But, in e-business: customer can easily create multiple accounts但是还有激励因素 • Model the current situation of the customer消费者目前情况的模式化 • Take price of competitor into account例如以竞争对手价格为基础 • Dynamically adjust price动态调整价格 • Personalization needs to be in real-time必须实时个性化

1. Personalized pricing1. 个性化定价 • What did Amazon do? 亚马逊做了些什么？ • What was the reaction of the customers… 消费者的反应如何？ • … empowered by community and communication?社区赋予消费者权力 • Lasted only for a couple of hours只持续了几个小时 • Constraint: Same country, same time, same price 限制：同一国度、同一时间、同一价格 • Policy: If experiments, reimburse customers at end of experiment difference between their price and lowest price 原则：如果是试验的话，在试验结束时就消费者的价格和最低价格之间进行补偿。 • Other experimental approaches to determine price其他试验 • Find similar books, try different prices相同的图书，不同的价格 • Reframe as discounts 变相打折

p p PRICE价格 REVENUE收入 q q DEMAND需求 • Instead of many prices (personalized pricing) …不提供多种个性化定价… REVENUE收入

p p SEGMENT 1 细分市场 1 SEGMENT 2 细分市场 2 Price 1价格 1 Price价格 Revenue收入 REVENUE 收入 Price 2价格 2 q Demand需求 q DEMAND需求 Differential pricing差异定价 • … offer two (or a few) prices…而提供两种或少数几种价格 vs.与

. Group pricing, 3. Versioning2.群体定价 3.版本管理 • 2. Group pricing群体定价 • Identical product相同产品 • Multiple prices多种价格 • Note注 • Price depends on customer’s attributes 价格取决于客户特性 • Customer has no choice between different versions of product 客户对产品版本没有选择 • Attribute determines price特性决定价格 • E.g., Student discounts 如学生折扣 • E.g., Airfares in China in 1990: Foreigners paid twice as much as Chinese如九十年代老外在华购买机票价格翻番 • 3. Versioning版本管理 • Multiple products多种产品 • Multiple prices多种价格 • Customer selects version客户选择版本 • Example 例 • Airline seats: Economy vs business class 航班座位：经济舱与公务舱 • Advance & penalty & no legroom 提前预订、违约罚金、座位空间小 • Book anytime & refundable & some legroom 随时预订、可全额退款、座位空间大

3. Versioning: Guidelines 3.版本管理：指导原则 • Some rules, based on needs of different customer segments (not on costs)一些建立在不同细分客户需求基础上的原则（而不是成本） • Design versions that accentuate differences in the needs of the segments版本的设计突出这些细分市场需求的不同点 • Choose a pricing structure that highlights these differences between the segments选择一种突出不同细分市场的定价结构 • Aim for complements目的在于配套件 • E.g., Online vs offline网上与网下 • Strategy战略 • Acquire users with low-end version 先用低端版本赢得用户群 • Free vs inexpensive 免费或廉价的 • Convert users of low-end version to high-end 将低端版本用户转化为高端版本用户 • Design high-end version, then remove features to produce low-end version (value-subtract)按高端市场设计，然后去掉一些功能来生产低端版本（价值削减） • E.g., Digital images, Software (disabling features easier than adding features), 如软件、数码图像（去掉功能比增加功能要容易些）

p SEGMENT 1 细分市场 1 SEGMENT 2 细分市场 2 Price1价格 1 REVENUE 收入 PRICE 2价格 2 q DEMAND需求 3. Versioning: Dimensions 3.版本管理：如何划分版本 • What attributes can be varied to create different versions?可根据哪些特征划分多种版本？ • Comprehensiveness综合性 • Search capabilities (simple vs advanced search)搜索能力 (简单与高级搜索） • Timeliness (real-time vs delayed) 及时性（实时与延迟） • Time of use (peak vs off-peak)使用时间（高峰与非高峰） • Access channel (online vs offline) 访问渠道（网上与网下） • Quality (sound quality or image resolution)质量 (音质或图象清晰度) • Speed of operation运行速度 • Convenience使用便捷 • (Lack of) annoyance不烦人

Search capability 搜索能力 3. Versioning3.版本管理 • Example: Hoovers例子：Hoovers • Product: Web-based information 产品：基于网络的信息 Comprehensiveness 综合性 Convenience 便利性

Example: Versioning on online dating site例：交友网站的版本设计 • Visitor (not registered, not paying)访客（不注册、不付费） • Show visitors the benefit for them to take the next step by showing them interesting inventory, yet hiding certain features that will be opened up if they register让访客看到感兴趣的信息列表来吸引他进入下一步，但故意隐去某些关键功能或信息，除非注册成为用户 • Registered user (not paying)注册用户（不付费） • Registration: User needs to create profile注册：用户需自我描述 • Network effects: Larger inventory increases the value of the site网络效应: 库存（注册用户）增加则使网站增值 • Paying subscriber付费用户 • Versioning: Allow users to see details of other users, to upload more pictures版本划分：允许用户查看更多信息细节，并可上载更多照片 • Note: Design economic incentives well to get visitors to register, and then to pay 注：精心设计经济激励机制，合理诱导访客迅速成为注册用户，最终升级为付费用户。

4. Bundling: Economics4. 捆绑定价的经济意义 • Example: 例子： • Assume that there are two products,  and  假设有两种产品和 • Furthermore, assume the following WTPs for User A and User B: 另外，假设用户A和B各自的WTP如下： User A: For  100RMB; For  120RMB.用户A：产品 ，100元；产品 ，120元 User B: For  120RMB; For  100RMB. 用户B：产品 ，120元；产品 ，100元 • Revenues: 收入： • Unbundled 非捆绑 • If price is 120RMB each: 240RMB total如果每个产品价格为120元：总价240元 • If price is 100RMB each: 400RMB total如果每个产品价格为100元：总价400元 • Bundled 捆绑 • If price for bundle is 220RMB, fetch 440RMB 如果捆绑价格为220元，则获得440元收入 • Bundling can enable higher revenues 通过捆绑定价，收入提高 • When customer needs product with functionality of second product, likely to use the already there一旦用户出现实际需求，多半会使用已有产品。

Example举例 • Pricing of trial version: free试用版免费 • Is an “experience good”亲自体验 • Pricing of bundle:捆绑定价 • $39 bundled (in addition to print) 捆绑定价39美元（加订印刷版报纸） • $79 unbundled (online only)非捆绑定价79美元（只看网络版）

Forms of aggregation similar to bundling其他集成形式有类似启示 • Implications on pricing如何影响定价 • Bundling = Aggregate across products捆绑＝商品的集成 • Optimal price for a bundle is easier to predict than optimal price for each individual good捆绑商品的最优价格要比单件商品的最优价格更易预测 • Site license = Aggregate across users 场地特许＝用户的集成 • Optimal price for a site is easier to predict than optimal price for each individual user 某一场地的最优价格要比单个用户的最优价格更易预测 • Subscription = Aggregate across time 订购＝时间的集成 • Optimal price for a subscription is easier to predict than optimal price for single purchase订购的最优价格要比单次使用的最优价格更易预测

Summary: Pricing digital goods总结：数字商品定价 • Personalized pricing个性化定价 • Personalization difficult in general, and additionally problematic for pricing一般而言，真正实现个性化较困难，个性化定价就更麻烦 • Group pricing 群体定价 • Difficult on the web because of identity problems (web’s strength of pseudonymity is necessarily weakness for group pricing based on userattributes)网上难以确认身份，网名泛滥难以针对用户特征准确定价 • Versioning 版本管理 • Offer combinations differing across relevant dimensions 提供相关因素的多种组合 • Users self-select, and reveal their preferences through their choices通过用户的选择了解用户偏好 • Possibly up-sell user over time 从长计议，越卖版本越高 • Bundling 捆绑定价

Pricing in the Digital Networked Economy 数字产品定价