Foundations and Trends® in Technology, Information and Operations Management > Vol 8 > Issue 1–2

Quantity Discounts: An Overview and Practical Guide for Buyers and Sellers

By Charles L. Munson, Washington State University, United States, munson@wsu.edu | Jonathan Jackson, Washington State University, United States, jonathan_jackson@wsu.edu

 
Suggested Citation
Charles L. Munson and Jonathan Jackson (2015), "Quantity Discounts: An Overview and Practical Guide for Buyers and Sellers", Foundations and Trends® in Technology, Information and Operations Management: Vol. 8: No. 1–2, pp 1-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/0200000041

Publication Date: 02 Jun 2015
© 2015 C. L. Munson and J. Jackson
 
Subjects
Cost management,  B2B Marketing,  Behavioral Decision Making,  Channel Management,  Choice Modeling,  Competitive Marketing Strategy,  Discrete Choice Models,  Game Theoretic Models,  Group Choice and Negotiation,  Marketing Decision Models,  Pricing Models,  Stochastic Model,  B2B Commerce,  Contracting in Supply Chains,  Marketing/Manufacturing Interfaces,  Multi-location inventory theory,  Supply Chain Management,  Computational problems,  Discrete choice modeling,  Economic Theory
 
Keywords
L11 pricingM11 production managementM31 marketing
Quantity discountsPricing
 

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In this article:
1. Introduction and Historical Background
2. Quantity Discount Realities
3. For Buyers: How Much to Order
4. For Sellers: What Discounts to Offer
5. Future Opportunities
A. Appendix: Spreadsheet Applications
References

Abstract

Sellers commonly provide price discounts for large orders; in fact, quantity discounts have existed as ubiquitous tools of commerce for hundreds of years. In some industries today, quantity discounts are more common than not in business-to-business transactions. For example, large discount retailers demand price breaks from their suppliers, and they typically then pass on a portion of the savings to final consumers. Practitioners face the issue from two sides. For sellers, what form of quantity discounts makes the most sense, and how should the discounts be priced? What role should quantity discounts play in the larger contract negotiation scheme? For buyers, how many units should be ordered when faced with a quantity discount schedule? And under what conditions should a buyer take the lead and attempt to negotiate a discount schedule from its supplier?

In this monograph, the authors critically review the existing quantity discount literature — particularly emphasizing the differences between historical academic focus and practical applications, as well as identifying areas that are still under-developed. They provide, in one location, the equations and major solution algorithms for the most popular and relevant quantity discount scenarios from both the buyer's and seller's perspectives.

DOI:10.1561/0200000041
ISBN: 978-1-60198-888-1
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Table of contents:
1. Introduction and Historical Background
2. Quantity Discount Realities
3. For Buyers: How Much to Order
4. For Sellers: What Discounts to Offer
5. Future Opportunities
A. Appendix: Spreadsheet Applications
References

Quantity Discounts: An Overview and Practical Guide for Buyers and Sellers

Quantity Discounts surveys operations management literature and offers ways to bridge remaining gaps between research and practice. The authors include formulas and solution methods for some of the fundamental quantity discount scenarios from both buyers' and sellers' perspectives. Sample solution methods provide enough detail to enable implementation by managers, and they provide a flavor of the variety and complexity of some of the core techniques appearing in the literature.

Quantity Discounts is organized as follows. Section 2 describes quantity discount conditions and realities, including the many reasons why companies offer them, the various quantity discount characteristics, results from surveys of practicing mangers, and a sampling of real-world discounts appearing in the literature. Section 3 provides a literature review for buyer's perspective models, while Section 4 provides a review for seller's perspective models. Section 5 concludes with several recommendations for future research. Finally, especially designed for instructors and practitioners, the Appendix illustrates how to implement several standard quantity discount models into Microsoft Excel with relative ease.

 
TOM-041