Introducing Keyword Recommender System (KRS): A Noble Alternative Search Recommender System in the Age of AI
In this talk, we explore the Keyword Recommender System (KRS) and consider its impact on sales volumes and market concentration. Unlike traditional, item-level recommenders, KRSs facilitate search query formation with potentially positive or negative consequences for search costs, resultant product fit, transaction volumes, and consumption diversity. We explore these effects via a randomized field experiment conducted with one of the largest mobile food-delivery platforms in Asia. The results of this experiment show that providing consumers with access to a KRS leads to a 1.2% rise in purchases over a 30-day period. Furthermore, access to a KRS leads to increased sales diversity, at both the individual and market levels.
- Gordon Burtch - Associate Professor at Boston University
- Oct. 25, 2023
- 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
- 50 N Harvard St., Cotting Hall, Room 107
Price Controls in a Multi-Sided Market: Investigating the Effect of Commission Caps in Food Delivery Platforms
This paper evaluates caps on the commissions that food delivery platforms charge to restaurants. Commission caps may lead restaurants to join platforms and to post lower prices on platforms, thereby benefitting consumers. But caps may also lead platforms to raise their consumer fees, thereby reducing ordering on platforms and consequently platforms’ value to restaurants. The net welfare effects of caps are thus uncertain. To quantify these effects, I estimate a model of pricing and platform adoption in a multi-sided market using data on consumer restaurant orders, restaurants’ platform adoption, and platform fees. Counterfactual simulations imply that commission caps bolster restaurant profits at the expense of consumers and platforms.
- Michael Sullivan - Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School (D^3 Institute)
- Nov. 1, 2023
- 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
- 50 N Harvard St., Cotting House, Room 107