This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

E-commerce and prices - theory and evidence

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Friberg, Richard () (Dept. of Economic Statistics, Stockholm School of Economics)
Ganslandt, Mattias () (IUI)
Sandström, Mikael () (Swedish research institute of trade (HUI))

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

This paper examines the relation between prices in conventional stores and on the Internet. Main results from the theoretical analysis are i) we expect a discrete fall in prices in conventional stores as the share of the population with access to Internet reaches a critical level, ii) the relation between prices depends on convenience costs of shopping in regular stores as well as on transport and navigation costs for goods bought over Internet, iii) retailers who only sell through Internet have lower on-line prices than retailers who also sell through conventional stores. The empirical section employs a rich data set covering the Swedish markets for books and CDs. Prices of these goods are on average 15 percent lower on Internet, but if a single item is bought transport costs will make it as expensive to buy over Internet as in a regular store (if a basket of goods is bought it is some 10 percent cheaper on Internet since transport costs are fixed). There is firm support for that retailers who only sell over Internet have lower on-line prices.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0389.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Stockholm School of Economics in its series Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance with number 389.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: 18 Jun 2000
Date of revision: 08 Sep 2000
Handle: RePEc:hhs:hastef:0389

Contact details of provider:
Postal: The Economic Research Institute, Stockholm School of Economics, P.O. Box 6501, 113 83 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-(0)8-736 90 00
Fax: +46-(0)8-31 01 57
Email:
Web page: http://www.hhs.se/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Helena Lundin).

Related research
Keywords: retail pricing; consumer behavior; e-commerce; price discrimination; Internet;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Klemperer, Paul, 1995. "Competition When Consumers Have Switching Costs: An Overview with Applications to Industrial Organization, Macroeconomics, and International Trade," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 62(4), pages 515-39, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Anderson, Simon P & Ginsburgh, Victor A, 1999. "International Pricing with Costly Consumer Arbitrage," Review of International Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 126-39, February.
  3. Michael Smith & Erik Brynjolfsson, 1999. "Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers," Computing in Economics and Finance 1999 1022, Society for Computational Economics.
  4. Masahisa Fujita & Paul Krugman & Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262561476, January.
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Friberg, Richard & Ganslandt, Mattias & Sandström, Mikael, 2001. "Pricing Strategies in E-Commerce: Bricks vs. Clicks," Working Paper Series 559, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Randy A. Nelson & Richard Cohen & Frederik Roy Rasmussen, 2007. "An Analysis of Pricing Strategy and Price Dispersion on the Internet," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 95-110, Winter. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? RePEc encourages publishers to make their bibliographic data freely available to the public.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-3.


This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.