Abstract
To achieve both a large number of platform users and the sustainability of service intermediation platform ecosystems, this study attempts to clarify appropriate platform fee settings and promising market types. It focuses on hotel-booking platforms and platform-based markets. We conduct agent-based simulation experiments with the conditions of (a) platform fee setting, (b) supply and demand balance, and (c) the consumer type categorized as “mandatorily” purchasing consumers (e.g., business travelers whose purchase of a hotel service is mandatory) and “optionally” purchasing consumers (who can refuse services if their requirements are not satisfied). Our simulation results reveal that when the platforms focus on mandatorily purchasing consumers, they could acquire larger platform users through fee settings, depending on the balance of supply and demand; however, they could not maintain ecosystem sustainability in any of the cases. When the platform focuses on optionally purchasing consumers, it can achieve both a large number of platform users and ecosystem sustainability with platform fee settings of consumer incentives, especially in excessive supply markets.
Highlights
Platform-based markets have a huge influence on human life in current society
This study aimed to examine how platform providers should set fees for service intermediary platforms and which types of markets they should focus on, to acquire a large number of platform users and to achieve sustainability of the platform ecosystems
We focused on hotel-booking platforms and built an agent-based simulation system of a two-sided market
Summary
Researchers have developed the concept of platform ecosystems [1,2]. Platform ecosystems are communities orchestrated by platform providers, outside complementors, and consumers [1,2,3,4]. A “business ecosystem” is an “economic community supported by a foundation of interacting organizations and individuals—the organisms of the business world; the member organisms include suppliers, lead producers, competitors, and other stakeholders” [5,6]. A platform ecosystem restricts its scope to relevant actors, such as the platform itself as well as its providers and users. Platform ecosystems do not generally restrict participation or withdrawal. A platform ecosystem has boundaries, it is an open system; that is, its composition may not mandatorily converge to any specific state because of outside interaction [7]
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