Optimal Shopping When the Sales Are on—a Markovian Full-Information Best-Choice Problem

We study a full-information best-choice problem viewed in a shopping context. A certain commodity can be found at certain random times with stochastically fluctuating prices. While the prices may have a tendency to decrease, the instants at which items are offered become less frequent and it is possible that the item currently found will be the last one. The prospective customer's objective is to buy at the right time so as to minimize the …