UC Davis experts: Retail business

The following UC Davis faculty members are available for comment on various topics related to retail business.

Customer service, sales and pricing
Online vs. offline sales, travel and leisure
New products, consumer choice, vehicle choice
Electronic retailing, information technology products
Retail operations

Customer service, sales and pricing

Professor Eitan Gerstner of the Graduate School of Management is a recognized expert in marketing management, marketing strategy, service quality management, customer satisfaction, sales and pricing. Gerstner has investigated how firms should pay affiliate partners for referring potential customers to their Web sites. There has been a strong push by many firms to use the pay-for-performance model, which compensates affiliates when referrals turn into customers. He has studied bait-and-switch strategies, price reductions, price-matching, money-back guarantees, coupons, refunds and customer referrals. Contact: Eitan Gerstner, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-5506, egerstner@ucdavis.edu.

Online vs. offline sales, travel and leisure

Assistant Professor Eyal Biyalogorsky of the Graduate School of Management concentrates his work on marketing strategy, pricing, new product development and managerial decision making. He is an ad hoc reviewer for several top journals, including Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Letters, and Psychology & Marketing. He has studied the effects of online activities on offline sales and how firms should pay affiliate partners for referring potential customers to their Web sites. Biyalogorsky is researching consumers' price expectations for frequently purchased products as well as how businesses such as airlines, train operators and performing arts houses that offer different service classes can best maximize profits from selling upgraded tickets. Contact: Eyal Biyalogorsky, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-9919, eyalog@ucdavis.edu.

New products, consumer choice, vehicle choice

Professor David Bunch of the Graduate School of Management is an internationally recognized expert on marketing research, marketing science, and decision and management sciences. His research interests include consumer choice behavior, choice modeling, new product development and introduction, travel behavior and vehicle choice, and alternative fuel vehicles. Bunch has consulted on transportation issues for public utilities, the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy. He has assessed the acceptance and potential impact of alternative fuel vehicles, the impact of telecommuting on travel and other transportation choice issues. Contact: David Bunch, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-2248, dsbunch@ucdavis.edu.

Electronic retailing, information technology products

Professor Hemant Bhargava of the Graduate School of Management is an expert in management information systems, technology management and the information technology industry. He centers his research on the economics of information systems and the IT industry, focusing on various issues in pricing, product variety, operations and competition. He has studied topics such as preferential placement in Internet search engines; information gatekeepers; quality-differentiated product versioning and price discrimination; electronic intermediaries and e-commerce; and joint optimization of pricing and inventory policies in electronic retailing. His research on market strategy for IT products and services shows that contingency pricing is increasingly relevant in many IT settings such as data storage outsourcing, managed hosting, nontraditional software, products from startup firms, telecommunications services and e-commerce. Contact: Hemant Bhargava, Graduate School of Management, (530) 754-5961, hkbhargava@ucdavis.edu.

Retail operations

Professor David Woodruff of the Graduate School of Management explores the operations management of companies and organizations, including capacity planning, scheduling, supply chain optimization, materials management, inventory control, quality control and distribution. Also director of joint degree programs for the school, he is an expert in production planning under uncertainty, optimization and data mining, and data analysis. Woodruff teaches courses in production and operations management, the management of information systems, and the design and specifications of computer-based information systems. He recently co-authored a book that provides managers and information technology professionals with a basic understanding of computational optimization models for production planning in a supply chain. Woodruff serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Production Research, Production and Operations Management, the Journal of Heuristics and INFORMS Journal On Computing. Contact: David Woodruff, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-0515, dlwoodruff@ucdavis.edu.

Media contacts:

Julia Ann Easley, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-8248, jaeasley@ucdavis.edu

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Last updated Jan. 8, 2007