Dynamic Coupon Targeting Using Batch Deep Reinforcement Learning: An Application to Livestream Shopping

We present an empirical framework for creating dynamic coupon targeting strategies for high-dimensional and high-frequency settings, and we test its performance using a large-scale field experiment. The framework captures consumers’ intertemporal tradeoffs associated with dynamic pricing and does not rely on functional form assumptions about consumers’ decision-making processes. The model is estimated using batch deep reinforcement learning (BDRL), which relies on Q-learning, a model-free solution that can mitigate model bias. It leverages deep neural networks to represent the high-dimensional state space and alleviate the curse of dimensionality. The empirical application is in a multibillion-dollar livestream shopping context. Our BDRL solution increases the platform’s revenue by twice as much as static targeting policies and by 20% more than the model-based solution. The comparative advantage of BDRL comes from more effective and automatic targeting of consumers based on both heterogeneity and dynamics, using exceptionally rich, nuanced differences among consumers and across time. We find that price skimming, reducing discounts for attractive hosts, and increasing the coupon discount level at a faster rate for low spenders are effective strategies based on dynamics, consumer heterogeneity, and the two combined, respectively.

History: K. Sudhir served as the senior editor and John Hauser served as associate editor for this article.

Funding: Partial financial support was received from the NYU Center for Global Economy and Business.

Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2022.1403.