Semiparametric panel multinomial choice models and an application

Marketing and consumer behavior have an important place in the economy. Consumer's purchasing behavior can be cultural, social, personal, psychological, etc. affected by factors. Consumers make many purchasing decisions every day. The purchasing decision has become the focus of marketers' efforts. Many companies seriously research where, when, how much and what consumers buy, and allocate significant budgets to these researches. In this study, Fixed Effect Logit Model, Fixed Effect Multinominal Logit Model and Random Effect Multinominal Logit Model were estimated by parametric Maximum Likelihood Method to determine the factors affecting consumer behavior. It was concluded that the assumptions were not met in the parametric models. The Fixed Effect Multinominal Logit Model was estimated by the Cyclic Monotonicity Method, which is a semi-parametric method that calculates the elastic density function. In the analysis, the data of a company operating in theSavings Finance sector for the year 2021 were used. The unit size of the panel data is 22 branches in Istanbul, and the time dimension is 52 weeks for 2021. It has been researched how the financing feediscount and the reference affect the financing product and financing type preferences of the consumers. It was determined that the financing fee significantly effected the consumers' choice of financing products. It has been determined that the discount and reference made in the financing fee do not have a great effect on the product preferences of the customers. The results provide important information in organizing campaigns for products and monitoring the company's liquidity ratio. In addition, parametric and semi-parametric estimations were compared andit was concluded that semi-parametric estimation method is a more suitable estimation methodbecause it provides a elastic estimation.