The newsvendor problem with an in-season price adjustment

Consider a retailer stocking a seasonal item facing a stochastic demand where information about the demand becomes more accurate as the selling season progresses. The retailer places orders before the start of the season and in-season reorders are not possible. This article extends the classical newsvendor model by allowing the retailer to make an in-season price adjustment after conducting a review and using the realized demand to obtain an accurate estimate of the remaining demand. Our results include answers to the following questions. What price should the retailer choose? How much should the retailer have ordered at the start of the season given the option of adjusting prices in-season? This model was motivated by a problem in car rental revenue management and has applications in perishable assets revenue management (PARM), where price adjustments are needed towards the end of the selling season.