Title: Enhancement of revenue management strategies through location-aware m-auctions for logistics services

Authors: Dimitrios M. Emiris; Charis A. Marentakis

Addresses: Department of Industrial Management and Technology, University of Piraeus, 40, Karaoli and Dimitriou Street, Piraeus 185 34, Greece ' Department of Industrial Management and Technology, University of Piraeus, 40, Karaoli and Dimitriou Street, Piraeus 185 34, Greece

Abstract: The last two decades have witnessed the successful application of revenue management (RM) strategies in many markets where the trading item is characterised by high perishability, as is the case with various types of service. Freight transportation service markets are a less-studied area in the RM science. A particular attribute of such markets is their time criticality and short duration especially in case of ad-hoc shipments. This paper couples the properties of auctions and location-based services in a whole. In particular, it aims to complement a RM strategy, introducing a conceptual marketplace. It also presents an evolutionary market learning approach for participants based on a structured series of auction-based experiments. Next, it capitalises on these findings to interpret the bidders behaviour. Finally, it draws guidelines for the specification of auction parameters. Experimental results provide evidence for the convergence of price between carriers and shippers.

Keywords: revenue management; strategy; location-aware auctions; mobile auctions; m-auctions; logistics services; freight transport; pricing; bidding behaviour; LBS; location-based services; ad-hoc shipments; marketplace; evolutionary learning; auction parameters.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRM.2012.044518

International Journal of Revenue Management, 2012 Vol.6 No.1/2, pp.102 - 126

Published online: 28 Dec 2011 *

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