| With the rapid development of globalization and digitalization,market competition has become increasingly fierce,and companies often use price discrimination to maximize profits in order to meet the diverse needs of consumers.However,such strategies can lead to the emergence of gray markets("grey markets"),in which unauthorized individuals or organizations purchase products in low-price areas and resell them to consumers in high-price areas in order to realize profits.In most cases,gray markets do not constitute infringement and are even encouraged in some countries or regions.Therefore,it is difficult for companies to take legal measures to deal with gray markets,and they can only find strategies to deal with them within their own business decisions.One of the more feasible and effective strategies is to limit the development of gray markets by setting reasonable product prices to control product price differences between different regions.This study combines empirical research and normative analysis to investigate the mechanisms of reference price and channel loyalty on the purchase intention of gray products and the pricing strategies of manufacturers in the gray market system under the reference price effect and channel loyalty.In the empirical study,firstly,the existing literature on reference price,channel loyalty,purchase intention and gray market is reviewed and summarized,and then the theoretical hypotheses are proposed in the context of the research objectives of this thesis;then,a questionnaire is designed and distributed offline and online on the basis of the existing established scales,and 235 valid questionnaires are collected;finally,the theoretical model is tested by processing and analyzing the questionnaire data.The results show that(1)reference price has a significant positive effect on consumers’ willingness to purchase gray products;(2)price fairness perception plays a part in mediating the effect of reference price on consumers’ willingness to purchase gray products;(3)channel loyalty has a significant positive effect on consumers’ willingness to purchase gray products.In the normative analysis section,combined with the findings of the empirical study,it is assumed that consumers in the gray market can be divided into strategic and loyal consumers based on whether they are loyal to the authorized channel,where strategic consumers will use the price of another product as a reference point when purchasing authorized or gray products,forming a two-way asymmetric reference price effect,while loyal consumers insist on purchasing products through the authorized channel The strategic consumers will use another product’s price as a reference point to form a two-way asymmetric reference price effect,while the loyal consumers insist on purchasing products through authorized channels.Based on the above assumptions,we construct the Stackelberg market game model and solve and analyze the equilibrium state of the model to investigate the pricing decision of manufacturers in the gray market system.The game models in this study include(1)a BM model in which manufacturers consider only channel loyalty in the case of direct sales in the low-price market;(2)an RP model in which manufacturers consider reference price effects and channel loyalty in the case of direct sales in the low-price market;(3)an FBM model in which manufacturers consider only channel loyalty in the case of distribution in the low-price market;and(4)a FRP model in which manufacturers consider reference price effects and channel loyalty in the case of distribution in the low-price market.The results show that the increase in the strength of the reference price effect,the gain-loss ratio,the proportion of strategic consumers in the high-price market,and consumer preference for gray products leads to higher prices for gray,low-price,and high-price products and lower demand for low-price products in equilibrium,while the variation of demand for gray products,demand for high-price products,and gains of system members with respect to the parameters is related to consumers’ valuation of low-price products The upper bound is related to different trends in different situations.This thesis explores the mechanisms of reference price and channel loyalty on the purchase intention of gray products and the pricing strategies of manufacturers in the gray market system under the reference price effect and channel loyalty through empirical research and normative analysis methods to provide references for firms to make reasonable pricing decisions in the real gray market environment.Specific suggestions include:(1)research should be conducted on key elements in the market before making pricing decisions,such as the proportion of loyal consumers in the highprice market,the strength of the reference price effect and the upper limit of consumers’ valuation of products in the low-price market;(2)reasonable control of the price gap between the low-price market and the high-price market to avoid large revenue losses caused by gray market speculation under a large price gap;(3)firms In the low-price market direct sales and distribution of the two cases of gray market system equilibrium state is different,different market conditions should take different pricing decisions.The thesis has 16 figures,23 tables,and 94 references. |
