This article examines how the consumer's search cost and filtering on a retail platform affect the platform, the third-party sellers, and the consumers. We show that, given the platform's percentage referral fee, a lower search cost can either increase or lower the platform's profit. By...

In recent years, the rapid growth of peer-to-peer (p2p) ridesharing has significantly cut the market share and profitability for taxis, but taxis remain a major service provider in the personal-transportation service industry. This paper analytically examines a market with two segments of...

Reputation systems play a central role in a variety of marketplaces to eliminate information asymmetry between sellers and buyers. Despite their crucial role, the design of reputation systems remains a complicated issue. Some platforms try to disclose as much product information as possible...