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Attribute Search in Online Retailing

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  • Richards, Timothy J.
  • Hamilton, Stephen F.
  • Empen, Janine

Abstract

Online shopping is common in many categories of retail goods. The recent trend towards online retailing has created an unprecedented empirical opportunity to examine consumer search behavior using click stream data. In this paper we examine consumer search intensity across a wide range of grocery products that differ in the depth of product assortment. We develop a model of attribute search in which consumers search within a chosen retailer for products that match their tastes, and that equilibrium prices reflect retailers' expectations of how intensively consumers intend to shop. The model predicts an inverse relationship between product variety and attribute search in which greater product variety reduces search intensity and leads to higher retail prices. We test these hypotheses using consumer data on online search and purchase behavior from the comScore Web Behavior Panel. Our results indicate that consumer's search less and pay higher retail prices in categories with deeper product assortments, a finding that suggests deeper product assortments can produce anti-competitive effects in retail food markets mediated through equilibrium responses in consumer search.

Suggested Citation

  • Richards, Timothy J. & Hamilton, Stephen F. & Empen, Janine, 2015. "Attribute Search in Online Retailing," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 202968, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea15:202968
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.202968
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    Cited by:

    1. Richards, Timothy J. & Hamilton, Stephen F. & Allender, William, 2016. "Search and price dispersion in online grocery markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 255-281.
    2. Sheldon, Ian M., 2017. "The Competitiveness Of Agricultural Product And Input Markets: A Review And Synthesis Of Recent Research," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(1), pages 1-44, February.

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    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics; Demand and Price Analysis; Industrial Organization; Marketing;
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