Paid media and measurement · Observational marketplace study with controls for sellers’ self-selection into sponsored search/social endorsement.
An Empirical Analysis of Seller Advertising Strategies in an Online Marketplace
Haoyan Sun, Ming Fan, Yong Tan (2020). An Empirical Analysis of Seller Advertising Strategies in an Online Marketplace. Information Systems Research. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2019.0874.
Plain-English take
Both tools increased traffic; only sponsored search significantly increased sales. Sponsored search worked better for low-reputation traffic and high-reputation sales; endorsement sales effects appeared only for high-reputation sellers. For your marketing: Use it to shape a local channel or message test; account for audience, timing and attribution limits before reallocating budget.
How much weight to give this
3/5 Moderate evidence for a specific setting
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
Observational marketplace study with controls for sellers’ self-selection into sponsored search/social endorsement.
Sellers at a retail e-commerce platform; traffic, sales, advertising tools, and seller reputation.
Judged from the publisher-described design and comparison; consult the paper for complete analysis.
Publisher page and abstract were retrieved directly; full text was not assumed open.
Double-blind? Blinding was not established from the retrieved publisher record.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How do sponsored search and social-media endorsement affect seller traffic and sales, and how does reputation moderate effects?
Design
Observational marketplace study with controls for sellers’ self-selection into sponsored search/social endorsement.
Sample and setting
Sellers at a retail e-commerce platform; traffic, sales, advertising tools, and seller reputation.
Reported result
What the study found
Both tools increased traffic; only sponsored search significantly increased sales. Sponsored search worked better for low-reputation traffic and high-reputation sales; endorsement sales effects appeared only for high-reputation sellers.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Results are from one retail e-commerce platform and nonrandom strategy choices, although the analysis controls for self-selection; transferability to other marketplaces is not established.
Possible founder application
Use it to shape a local channel or message test; account for audience, timing and attribution limits before reallocating budget.
Evidence access
Publisher record and abstract retrieved; consult the linked paper for full methods and tables.
Publisher abstract explicitly says the study analyzes two advertising tools, controls self-selection, and reports traffic/sales and reputation heterogeneity. Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; this profile uses publisher metadata/abstract and does not claim independent review of unavailable full text.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.