Versioning strategies for online dating platforms

Yonghong Sun ()
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Yonghong Sun: Xi’an Jiaotong University

Electronic Commerce Research, 2025, vol. 25, issue 4, No 6, 2525-2551

Abstract: Abstract This study examined information service versioning strategies for online dating platforms. Several research questions regarding versioning have been proposed. First, is it profitable for a platform to offer multiple versions of its service? If yes, how many versions should be offered? If gender-based price discrimination is infeasible, how does that affect the versioning strategies? We found that, first, compared to offering a single version, it is more profitable for a platform to provide multiple versions of its services. Second, the optimal number of versions for the platform to provide is two: basic and premium. Third, the maximal profits obtained by the platform increase with the quality of the premium version but change ambiguously with the quality of the basic version. Finally, a ban on gender-based price discrimination does not fundamentally affect versioning strategies. The user welfare of the two groups (male and female users) is affected in opposite directions, but the effect is weakened by cross-group network effects.

Keywords: Versioning; Cross-group network effects (CGNEs); Dating service; Multi-sided platforms (MSPs) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10660-023-09756-8

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