Online information play an important role in influencing our views and perception in addition to purchase decision making. Prof Tat-Koon KOH and Prof XU Hong of the Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management will share their research findings and insights into the elements in increasing brand or product exposure via viral marketing and how discount strategy works in online commerce with asymmetric information.

The science behind the art of viral marketing
Viral marketing on social media can help companies increase the exposure of their brands or products. However, for every successful viral marketing campaign, there are many others that failed to reach a large audience as hoped. In this talk, Prof Tat-Koon KOH will give an overview of strategies that could contribute to the chances of successful viral marketing campaigns.

How discount strategy works in online commerce with asymmetric information
Online daily-deal platforms, such as Groupon and LivingSocial, have become a prominent price promotion venue. As two-sided markets, daily-deal platforms allow merchants to attract new consumers via discounts and consumers to explore a wide variety of products and services. In this joint study presented by Prof XU Hong, she will investigate whether the discounts offered by online daily deals help attract consumer purchases, and draw related managerial implications to merchants and platforms on how to design price promotions in the online environment.