Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy
Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy
Global software piracy revisited
Communications of the ACM - Multimodal interfaces that flex, adapt, and persist
Learning and Forgetting: Modeling Optimal Product Sampling Over Time
Management Science
The Effects of Free Sample Promotions on Incremental Brand Sales
Marketing Science
Decision Support Systems - Special issue: Economics and information systems
To purchase or to pirate software: an empirical study
Journal of Management Information Systems
Whatever happened to payola? an empirical analysis of online music sharing
Decision Support Systems
Information Systems Research
A New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables
Management Science
When Online Reviews Meet Hyperdifferentiation: A Study of the Craft Beer Industry
Journal of Management Information Systems
International Journal of Electronic Commerce
Economics and Electronic Commerce: Survey and Directions for Research
International Journal of Electronic Commerce
Economics of shareware: How do uncertainty and piracy affect shareware quality and brand premium?
Decision Support Systems
Designing online selling mechanisms: Transparency levels and prices
Decision Support Systems
The benefit of information asymmetry: When to sell to informed customers?
Decision Support Systems
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As one of the most commonly utilized marketing tools, free sampling also has its online presence, especially for information goods. In this article, we provide an analytical model to study the economic rationale behind free online samples. We argue that with the development of technologies, a ''free sample'' is less and less under control of the seller. We find that this trend does not always hurt the seller. Under certain circumstances, the monopolist can be better off with the presence of the free samples provided by third parties. Further, we argue that the decreasing search costs for free samples threaten the effectiveness of advertising.