Priceline was an early innovator in the selling of services online with the launch of its name-your-own-price model for the selling of airline seats, rental cars and hotel rooms. In 2009, Priceline further innovated its model through the launch of its Negotiator App. A focal point of the app was the use of a slider as the price input mechanism. Prior to the slider, consumers were provided very little feedback or guidance on suggested bids or offer prices. The advent of the slider directly grounds the offer by the endpoints of the slider. Given the success of Priceline’s slider and its name-your-own-price format, numerous firms have adopted the use of sliders to receive and offer prices for goods, services or upgrades. We look at the optimal design of sliders for firms using them to solicit offers under two settings: one similar to Priceline, where the goal is to maximize the revenue rate, and the second where the goal is to maximize total revenue from constrained supply (e.g., a limited number of first-class seat upgrades) as is more typical of service settings.

Zoom link: https://dartmouth.zoom.us/j/94978433167​