A review on the gray market business using a data-driven approach

Abstract

This study provides a systematic overview of the literature in gray market business using a data-driven approach and points out several future research directions. The emergence of gray markets is discussed first and the research method and literature selection used in the study are then introduced. By studying the selected articles from five databases, the research trend, highly productive scholars and frequently cited papers are listed next using the collected dataset. Furthermore, frequencies of keywords used in the selected literature are presented through word segmentation and descriptive statistics. Using a data-driven approach, this study divides the extant literature into four categories, including pricing, distribution channels, impacts on the brand-name product manufacturer/equity and consumer attitude, and others. Finally, because the previous studies focused less on information, data, technology and human behaviors, this work puts forward five research agendas and proposes future research directions, including cooperation-oriented, information-oriented, behavior-oriented, technology-oriented, and research method-oriented agendas.

Keywords

• Gray market
• Parallel imports
• Data-driven approach
• Review