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Buying Online: An Analysis of Shopbot Visitors

Author

Listed:
  • Dulleck Uwe

    (Queensland University of Technology, 2 George St, Brisbane City Queensland, Australia)

  • Hackl Franz
  • Weiss Bernhard
  • Winter-Ebmer Rudolf

    (Johannes Kepler University, Altenbergerstraße 69, Linz, Austria)

Abstract

We conduct an empirical study on the search and purchasing behavior of buyers on an Austrian price comparison site. On such a market a consumer typically searches for the cheapest price of a given product. Reliability and service of the supplier, however, are other important characteristics of an offer. We find robust evidence of consumer behavior that can be described as a two-stage procedure: shoppers first select a group of candidate offers based on the price only; then, in the actual buying decision consumers tradeoff a lower price with higher reliability of the retailer.

Suggested Citation

  • Dulleck Uwe & Hackl Franz & Weiss Bernhard & Winter-Ebmer Rudolf, 2011. "Buying Online: An Analysis of Shopbot Visitors," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(4), pages 395-408, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:germec:v:12:y:2011:i:4:p:395-408
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0475.2011.00535.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Böheim, René & Hackl, Franz & Hölzl-Leitner, Michael, 2021. "The impact of price adjustment costs on price dispersion in e-commerce," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Hackl, Franz & Kummer, Michael E. & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf & Zulehner, Christine, 2014. "Market structure and market performance in E-commerce," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 199-218.
    3. Hackl, Franz & Kügler, Agnes & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2011. "Reputation and Certification in Online Shops," Economics Series 279, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    4. Franz Hackl & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2020. "Customer reactions to a webshop’s service quality," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 47(4), pages 699-731, November.
    5. Hackl, Franz & Kummer, Michael E. & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2014. "99 Cent: Price points in e-commerce," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 12-27.
    6. Juan Lleras & Yusufcan Masatlioglu & Daisuke Nakajima & Erkut Ozbay, 2021. "Path-Independent Consideration," Games, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, March.
    7. Franz Hackl & Michael Hölzl‐Leitner & Rudolf Winter‐Ebmer & Christine Zulehner, 2021. "Successful retailer strategies in price comparison platforms," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(5), pages 1284-1305, July.
    8. Artur Strzelecki, 2019. "Key Features of E-Tailer Shops in Adaptation to Cross-Border E-Commerce in the EU," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Stephen McDonald & Colin Wren, 2018. "Multibrand pricing as a strategy for consumer search obfuscation in online markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 171-187, June.
    10. Rohan Dutta & Sean Horan, 2015. "Inferring Rationales from Choice: Identification for Rational Shortlist Methods," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 179-201, November.
    11. Bleile, Jörg, 2016. "Limited Attention in Case-Based Belief Formation," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 518, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    12. Franz Hackl & Michael Hölzl-Leitner & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer & Christine Zulehner, 2018. "Success of firm strategies in e-commerce," Economics working papers 2018-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.

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