{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T12:17:41Z","timestamp":1768220261026,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Operations Research"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Can Customers Spot Price Discrimination?<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Firms adjust prices to match supply with demand and increasingly use customer data to personalize pricing. Consequently, customers have limited visibility into price drivers and may worry about price discrimination based on their shopping behavior. For instance, a customer with high willingness to pay may receive a high price either because the product is popular or because the price has been personalized. In \u201cIs Your Price Personalized? Alleviating Customer Concerns with Inventory Availability Information,\u201d A. Aflaki and Q. Zhang studied whether observed prices are sufficiently informative to signal personalization in a dynamic setting. They found that price alone cannot resolve this uncertainty, which may lead to actions that harm both firms and customers. However, a simple binary signal disclosing whether inventory is low or abundant can, under certain conditions, ease customer concerns and benefit both the firm and its customers.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.2023.0360","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,18]],"date-time":"2025-07-18T15:13:09Z","timestamp":1752851589000},"page":"181-198","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Is Your Price Personalized? Alleviating Customer Concerns with Inventory Availability Information"],"prefix":"10.1287","volume":"74","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3166-3504","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arian","family":"Aflaki","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2018-9942","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qian (Ken)","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Business Administration, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Pomona, California 91768"}]}],"member":"109","reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Acemoglu D, Makhdoumi A, Malekian A, Ozdaglar A (2022) Learning from reviews: The selection effect and the speed of learning.\n                      Econometrica\n                      90(6):2857\u20132899.","DOI":"10.3982\/ECTA15847"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.1040.0103"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.2020.2084"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.2019.1937"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1100.1306"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Allon G, Bassamboo A, Randhawa RS (2019) Price as a signal of product availability: Is it cheap? Preprint, submitted June 10, https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/http\/dx.doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.3393502.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.3393502"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0022243719834945"},{"key":"B8","unstructured":"Angwin J, Parris T Jr, Mattu S (2016) Breaking the black box: When algorithms decide what you pay.\n                      Propublica\n                      , https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.propublica.org\/article\/breaking-the-black-box-when-algorithms-decide-what-you-pay."},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.2023.2438"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/msom.1070.0183"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2018.3114"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.1090.0701"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejor.2017.01.029"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2020.3680"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.2017.1676"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-01863-4_10"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/msom.2015.0527"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1080.0948"},{"key":"B19","author":"Cakebread C","year":"2017","journal-title":"Bus. Insider"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/msom.2020.0882"},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/qje\/qjx044"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2021.4129"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2020.3772"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2021.4171"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2019.3485"},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.1110.0691"},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2016.2600"},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2017.2950"},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.47.11.1488.10252"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2020.3580"},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dub\u00e9 JP, Misra S (2017) Personalized pricing and customer welfare. Preprint, submitted June 26, https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/http\/dx.doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.2992257.","DOI":"10.3386\/w23775"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2020.3821"},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.49.10.1287.17315"},{"key":"B34","unstructured":"European Commission (2018) Consumer market study on online market segmentation through personalised pricing\/offers in the European Union: Final report executive summary. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/commission.europa.eu\/system\/files\/2018-07\/exec_summary_online_personalisation_study_en.pdf."},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S1574-0145(06)01007-5"},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.40.8.999"},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/mar.10084"},{"key":"B38","unstructured":"Garg N, Johari R (2019) Designing optimal binary rating systems.\n                      22nd Internat. Conf. Artificial Intelligence Statist.\n                      (PMLR, New York), 1930\u20131939."},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/508435"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2016.2463"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.101.6.2590"},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2021.4011"},{"key":"B43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/poms.12607"},{"key":"B44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2013.1860"},{"key":"B45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/opre.2018.1819"},{"key":"B46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.2023.0746"},{"key":"B47","unstructured":"OECD (2018) Personalised pricing in the digital era\u2013Note by the United States. https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/tinyurl.com\/29rfsjw8."},{"key":"B48","unstructured":"OECD (2020) Personalised pricing in the digital era. https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/tinyurl.com\/3wkcjtab."},{"key":"B49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2016.2697"},{"key":"B50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.1070.0355"},{"key":"B51","unstructured":"Reinartz WJ, Haucap J, Wiegand N (2018) When customers are\u2013and aren\u2019t\u2013ok with personalized prices.\n                      Harvard Bus. Rev.\n                      (May 31), https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/hbr.org\/2018\/05\/when-customers-are-and-arent-ok-with-personalized-prices."},{"key":"B52","unstructured":"Streitfeld D (2000) On the web price tags blur: What you pay could depend on who you are.\n                      Washington Post\n                      (September 27), https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/politics\/2000\/09\/27\/on-the-web-price-tags-blur\/14daea51-3a64-488f-8e6b-c1a3654773da\/."},{"key":"B53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1060.0667"},{"key":"B54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1080.0886"},{"key":"B55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1593765"},{"key":"B56","unstructured":"US Council of Economic Advisers (2016) Big data and differential pricing. Executive Office of the President of the United States."},{"key":"B57","unstructured":"Wallheimer B (2018) Are you ready for personalized pricing? https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/tinyurl.com\/4p64ru4e."},{"key":"B58","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.1090.1029"},{"key":"B59","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2013.1888"}],"container-title":["Operations Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/pubsonline.informs.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1287\/opre.2023.0360","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T09:19:50Z","timestamp":1768209590000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/pubsonline.informs.org\/doi\/10.1287\/opre.2023.0360"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"references-count":59,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1287\/opre.2023.0360"],"URL":"https:\/\/linproxy.fan.workers.dev:443\/https\/doi.org\/10.1287\/opre.2023.0360","relation":{},"ISSN":["0030-364X","1526-5463"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0030-364X","type":"print"},{"value":"1526-5463","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]}}}