The Effectiveness of Low Price Matching in Mitigating the Competitive Pressure of Low Friction Electronic Markets
Tóm tắt
The conventional wisdom is that Internet commerce substantially reduces the transaction costs for comparison shopping, which in turn intensifies price competition. However, the technology of the Internet marketplace offers retailers tools with the potential to blunt some of this competition. This paper explores the competitive impact of an electronic low price matching policy when firms can track customer search behavior. Using controlled laboratory techniques, we find that through the use of low price matching sellers are able to dampen some of the intense competition spawned when a large proportion of consumers comparison shop.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Cason, T. and A. Williams. (1990). “Competitive Equilibrium Convergence in a Posted-Offer Market with Extreme Earnings Inequalities.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 14, 331–352.
Davis, D. and A. Williams. (1991). “The Hayek Hypothesis in Experimental Auctions: Institutional Effects and Market Power.” Economic Inquiry 29, 261–274.
Deck, C. and B. Wilson. (2000). “Interactions of Automated Pricing Algorithms: An Experimental Investigation.” Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce, 77–85.
Deck, C. and B. Wilson. (2002a). “Tracking Customers to Price Discriminate.” Working Paper, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, George Mason University.
Deck, C. and B. Wilson. (2002b). “Automated Pricing Rules in Electronic Posted Offer Markets.” Economic Inquiry, forthcoming.
Dixit, A. and B. Nalebuff. (1991). Thinking Strategically. New York: W.W. Norten & Company, Inc.
Doyle, C. (1988). “Different Selling Strategies in Bertrand Oligopoly.” Economics Letters 28, 387–390.
Gibbons, R. (1992). Game Theory for Applied Economists. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Hviid, M. and G. Shaffer. (1999). “Hassle-Costs, The Achilles Heel of Price Matching Guarantees.” Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 8, 498–521.
Kruse, J. (1991). “Contestability in the Presence of an Alternate Market: An Experimental Examination.” Rand Journal of Economics22, 136–147.
Logan, J. and R. Lutter. (1989). “Guaranteed Lowest Prices: Do They Facilitate Collusion.” Economics Letters 31, 189–192.
Png, I. and D. Hirschleifer. (1987). “Price Discrimination Through Offers to Match Price.” Journal of Business 60, 365–383.
Ruffle, B. (2000). “Some Factors Affecting Demand Withholding in Posted-Offer Markets.” Economic Theory 16, 529–544.
Salop, S. (????). “Practices that (Credibly) Facilitate Oligopoly Coordination.” In J. Stiglitz and F. Mathewson (eds.), New Developments in the Analysis of Market Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Streitfeld, D. (2000). “On the Web, Price Tags Blur.” Washington Post, September 27, A01.
Varian, H. (1980). “A Model of Sales.” American Economic Review 70, 651–659.
Weber, T. (2000). “The Man Who Baked the First Web Cookies Chews Over Their Fate.” Wall Street Journal, February 28, B1.
Wilde, L. and A. Schwartz. (1979). “Equilibrium Comparison Shopping.” Review of Economic Studies 46, 543–553.
Wolverton, T. (2000a). “MP3 Player 'sale' Exposes Amazon's Flexible Prices.” CNET News.com, May 17. Available at: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1889854.html.
Wolverton, T. (2000b). “Now Showing: Random DVD Prices on Amazon.” CNET News.com, September 5. Available at: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-2703210.html.