Why Is Price Dispersion Higher Online Than Offline? The Impact of Retailer Type and Shopping Risk on Price Dispersion

Why Is Price Dispersion Higher Online Than Offline? The Impact of Retailer Type and Shopping Risk on Price Dispersion PDF Author: Hejun Zhuang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
When physically similar products, of similar quality, are offered by retailers both online and offline, we often observe that the dispersion in prices of these products online is greater than the price dispersion offline. This observation runs counter to early theories that suggested price dispersion online would be smaller than that offline due to the ease of search and information availability online. This paper investigates and provides an explanation for this puzzling phenomenon by examining the impact of two important drivers of price dispersion: retailer type and consumers' shopping risk. Retailer type refers to whether a retailer is a pure offline, pure online, or dual channel retailer. Shopping risk is defined as the product of consumers' perceived risk of shopping and the transaction uncertainty related to shopping at different types of retailers. A game-theoretic approach is adopted to model consumers' price search and product purchase, as well as price competition within and across retailer types in online and offline markets. Equilibrium pricing strategies are derived for different retailer types competing for different consumer segments with different levels of perceived shopping risk. The impact of retailer type and shopping risk on online versus offline price dispersion are quantified, and conditions when price dispersion is greater online than offline are identified. Results indicate that price dispersion is greater online when the number of pure online retailers is sufficiently large and is increasing in the number of pure online retailers. In addition, a reduction in online shopping risk may actually increase online price dispersion. Results further suggest that even without any online sales, dual channel retailers should maintain their online presence for the purpose of information dissemination, which justifies the importance for pure offline retailer to incorporate webrooming strategies, where consumers can search for prices online but purchase offline.

Why Is Price Dispersion Higher Online Than Offline? The Impact of Retailer Type and Shopping Risk on Price Dispersion

Why Is Price Dispersion Higher Online Than Offline? The Impact of Retailer Type and Shopping Risk on Price Dispersion PDF Author: Hejun Zhuang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 66

Get Book Here

Book Description
When physically similar products, of similar quality, are offered by retailers both online and offline, we often observe that the dispersion in prices of these products online is greater than the price dispersion offline. This observation runs counter to early theories that suggested price dispersion online would be smaller than that offline due to the ease of search and information availability online. This paper investigates and provides an explanation for this puzzling phenomenon by examining the impact of two important drivers of price dispersion: retailer type and consumers' shopping risk. Retailer type refers to whether a retailer is a pure offline, pure online, or dual channel retailer. Shopping risk is defined as the product of consumers' perceived risk of shopping and the transaction uncertainty related to shopping at different types of retailers. A game-theoretic approach is adopted to model consumers' price search and product purchase, as well as price competition within and across retailer types in online and offline markets. Equilibrium pricing strategies are derived for different retailer types competing for different consumer segments with different levels of perceived shopping risk. The impact of retailer type and shopping risk on online versus offline price dispersion are quantified, and conditions when price dispersion is greater online than offline are identified. Results indicate that price dispersion is greater online when the number of pure online retailers is sufficiently large and is increasing in the number of pure online retailers. In addition, a reduction in online shopping risk may actually increase online price dispersion. Results further suggest that even without any online sales, dual channel retailers should maintain their online presence for the purpose of information dissemination, which justifies the importance for pure offline retailer to incorporate webrooming strategies, where consumers can search for prices online but purchase offline.

Applied Econometric Times Series

Applied Econometric Times Series PDF Author: Walter Enders
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
This advanced text for a course on time series econometrics introduces modern time series analyses through the use of wide-ranging examples and applications. Providing a balance between macro- and microeconomic applications, the book covers recent work that has only been published in journals.

Pricing Behavior and Equilibrium Price Dispersion in Online Markets

Pricing Behavior and Equilibrium Price Dispersion in Online Markets PDF Author: Christine Saliba
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic commerce
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Online markets are characterized by very low price search costs for consumers. This has lead to many claims that online markets should be highly competitive. One would expect that price dispersion would disappear if price search costs were close to zero. Recent empirical studies suggest that price dispersion exists, and is persistent on the Internet. The dissertation sheds some light on the forces driving price dispersion on the Internet and influencing the degree of price competition in online markets. The dissertation consists of two parts, one empirical and two theoretical. The first part is an empirical study of price dispersion in the online market for college textbooks. The second part investigates the role that firm heterogeneity plays in sustaining price dispersion by extending existing theoretical models to allow for varying market share across firms.

Online Price Dispersion

Online Price Dispersion PDF Author: Sulin Ba
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Internet has changed the nature of doing business as well as the nature of competition in many industries. Consumers are more empowered than ever with valuable information such as prices, products, and store ratings. Because of this, some researchers even predicted, during the early stage of e-commerce, a frictionless economy in which online prices would be driven down to marginal costs. However, many studies have subsequently observed the wide price dispersion online, and its existence and persistence has now been well documented. Possible explanations of this price dispersion, derived mainly using hedonic price models, have seen only modest success. In this paper, we propose an alternative competitive model, based on online retailers' differentiation, to explain price dispersion. We empirically test the predictions of this model and find that the model is a viable alternative to the hedonic price model. In addition, our competitive model is able to predict and explain observations that are seemingly inconsistent with a hedonic model. Practically, our model yields important recommendations for the online etailing industry and can help an e-tailer to choose a desirable position in the competitive market.

Understanding the Digital Economy

Understanding the Digital Economy PDF Author: Erik Brynjolfsson
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262523301
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
The rapid growth of electronic commerce, along with changes in information, computing, and communications, is having a profound effect on the United States economy. President Clinton recently directed the National Economic Council, in consultation with executive branch agencies, to analyze the economic implications of the Internet and electronic commerce domestically and internationally, and to consider new types of data collection and research that could be undertaken by public and private organizations. This book contains work presented at a conference held by executive branch agencies in May 1999 at the Department of Commerce. The goals of the conference were to assess current research on the digital economy, to engage the private sector in developing the research that informs investment and policy decisions, and to promote better understanding of the growth and socioeconomic implications of information technology and electronic commerce. Aspects of the digital economy addressed include macroeconomic assessment, organizational change, small business, access, market structure and competition, and employment and the workforce.

Retailing in the 21st Century

Retailing in the 21st Century PDF Author: Manfred Krafft
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540720030
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
With crisp and insightful contributions from 47 of the world’s leading experts in various facets of retailing, Retailing in the 21st Century offers in one book a compendium of state-of-the-art, cutting-edge knowledge to guide successful retailing in the new millennium. In our competitive world, retailing is an exciting, complex and critical sector of business in most developed as well as emerging economies. Today, the retailing industry is being buffeted by a number of forces simultaneously, for example the growth of online retailing and the advent of ‘radio frequency identification’ (RFID) technology. Making sense of it all is not easy but of vital importance to retailing practitioners, analysts and policymakers.

The Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy

The Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy PDF Author: Martin Peitz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195397843
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 615

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Book Description
The economic analysis of the digital economy has been a rapidly developing research area for more than a decade. Through authoritative examination by leading scholars, this Handbook takes a closer look at particular industries, business practices, and policy issues associated with the digital industry. The volume offers an up-to-date account of key topics, discusses open questions, and provides guidance for future research. It offers a blend of theoretical and empirical works that are central to understanding the digital economy. The chapters are presented in four sections, corresponding with four broad themes: 1) infrastructure, standards, and platforms; 2) the transformation of selling, encompassing both the transformation of traditional selling and new, widespread application of tools such as auctions; 3) user-generated content; and 4) threats in the new digital environment. The first section covers infrastructure, standards, and various platform industries that rely heavily on recent developments in electronic data storage and transmission, including software, video games, payment systems, mobile telecommunications, and B2B commerce. The second section takes account of the reduced costs of online retailing that threatens offline retailers, widespread availability of information as it affects pricing and advertising, digital technology as it allows the widespread employment of novel price and non-price strategies (bundling, price discrimination), and auctions, as well as better tar. The third section addresses the emergent phenomenon of user-generated content on the Internet, including the functioning of social networks and open source. Finally, the fourth section discusses threats arising from digitization and the Internet, namely digital piracy, privacy and internet security concerns.

The Economics of the Internet and E-commerce

The Economics of the Internet and E-commerce PDF Author: Michael R. Baye
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0762309717
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The first six chapters of the text examine four broad issues: the role of the Internet in fostering competition, its impact on price dispersion and on business-to-business transactions, and the importance of reputation and trust in the new economy. The last four chapters examine the impact of the Internet on the organization of firms, the efficiency of auctions in the Internet age, how consumers choose websites and acquire product information, and the growing problem of congestion on the Internet.

The New Economy and Beyond

The New Economy and Beyond PDF Author: Dennis W. Jansen
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Providing a non-technical analysis of the modern macro-economy, the contributors provide their views on the new economy from a variety of perspectives.

Can Online Price Dispersion be Explained by Characteristic Differences in Retailers?

Can Online Price Dispersion be Explained by Characteristic Differences in Retailers? PDF Author: Daniel Mazzone
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
Economic theory suggests that, due to near-zero online search costs for consumers, price dispersion of homogeneous goods should converge towards zero. However, despite theoretical predictions, price dispersion is pervasive on many online markets. This paper uses econometric tools to analyze a panel data set of prices of best-selling TV models offered by several online retailers as we attempt to pinpoint retailer-specific characteristics that lead to price differentials of identical models. Results suggest that retailers with a national brick-and mortar presence and those that offer full refunds for returned televisions are able to charge higher prices, which can be explained by the fact that customers are willing to pay a price premium for store reputation and returns flexibility. A less intuitive result is that retailers that offer free shipping tend to charge overall lower prices, which can only be explained by logistical and scale advantages.