IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v20y2002i1p25-37.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price, Quality, And Service On The Internet: Sense And Nonsense

Author

Listed:
  • James V. Koch
  • Richard J. Cebula

Abstract

Faster, frictionless, cheaper, better: these are said to be the hallmarks of economic activity on the Internet. Search theory suggests use of the Net could reduce the prices consumers pay, but product branding, price discrimination based on data mining, and auctions may raise prices. The Net has lowered most prices, but raised others, even when shop bots are used. Price dispersion is greater on the Net, and Net sellers change their prices more often. The role of intermediaries has not been reduced. The quality of service is idiosyncratic and highly variable. The Net is a new and distinctive avenue of commerce, but those who argue it has invalidated conventional economic principles are well off base.

Suggested Citation

  • James V. Koch & Richard J. Cebula, 2002. "Price, Quality, And Service On The Internet: Sense And Nonsense," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 20(1), pages 25-37, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:20:y:2002:i:1:p:25-37
    DOI: 10.1093/cep/20.1.25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/cep/20.1.25
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1093/cep/20.1.25?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dennis W. Carlton & Judith A. Chevalier, 2001. "Free Riding and Sales Strategies for the Internet," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 441-461, December.
    2. Kihlstrom, Richard E & Riordan, Michael H, 1984. "Advertising as a Signal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 427-450, June.
    3. Steven Salop & Joseph Stiglitz, 1977. "Bargains and Ripoffs: A Model of Monopolistically Competitive Price Dispersion," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 493-510.
    4. Stigler, George J., 2011. "Economics of Information," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 35-49.
    5. Jerry A. Hausman & Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason, 1988. "Price Discrimination and Patent Policy," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(2), pages 253-265, Summer.
    6. Paul Klemperer, 1995. "Competition when Consumers have Switching Costs: An Overview with Applications to Industrial Organization, Macroeconomics, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(4), pages 515-539.
    7. Dennis W. Carlton & Judith A. Chevalier, 2001. "Free Riding and Sales Strategies for the Internet," NBER Chapters, in: E-commerce, pages 441-461, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jeffrey Rohlfs, 1974. "A Theory of Interdependent Demand for a Communications Service," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 5(1), pages 16-37, Spring.
    9. Severin Borenstein & Garth Saloner, 2001. "Economics and Electronic Commerce," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 3-12, Winter.
    10. Rosenthal, Robert W, 1980. "A Model in Which an Increase in the Number of Sellers Leads to a Higher Price," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(6), pages 1575-1579, September.
    11. Nelson, Philip, 1974. "Advertising as Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 729-754, July/Aug..
    12. Erik Brynjolfsson & Michael D. Smith, 2000. "Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(4), pages 563-585, April.
    13. J. Yannis Bakos, 1997. "Reducing Buyer Search Costs: Implications for Electronic Marketplaces," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(12), pages 1676-1692, December.
    14. Fiona Scott Morton & Florian Zettelmeyer & Jorge Silva Risso, 2000. "Internet Car Retailing," NBER Working Papers 7961, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Thiel, Stuart E, 1988. "Some Evidence of the Winner's Curse," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 884-895, December.
    16. Perri, Timothy J., 1995. "Is there a winner's curse in the labor market?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 79-89, September.
    17. David Lucking-Reiley & Daniel F. Spulber, 2001. "Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 55-68, Winter.
    18. Levin, Dan & Smith, James L, 1991. "Some Evidence on the Winner's Curse: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 370-375, March.
    19. Kohn, Meir G. & Shavell, Steven, 1974. "The theory of search," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 93-123, October.
    20. Stahl, Dale O, II, 1989. "Oligopolistic Pricing with Sequential Consumer Search," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 700-712, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hong, Jiangtao & Guo, Pengjie & Deng, Hepu & Quan, Yuting, 2021. "The adoption of supply chain service platforms for organizational performance: Evidences from Chinese catering organizations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    2. Koch, James V., 2006. "Much more at stake than Gewurztraminer: The U.S. Supreme Court's wine decision," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 211-219.
    3. Ramkumar, M. & Schoenherr, Tobias & Wagner, Stephan M. & Jenamani, Mamata, 2019. "Q-TAM: A quality technology acceptance model for predicting organizational buyers’ continuance intentions for e-procurement services," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 333-348.
    4. Daniel Sutter, 2005. "State Regulations and E-Commerce: The Case for Internet Casket Sales in Oklahoma," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 20(Spring 20), pages 27-42.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, January.
    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.
    3. Lu, Qiang (Steven) & Yang, Yupin & Yuksel, Ulku, 2015. "The impact of a new online channel: An empirical study," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 136-155.
    4. Backus, Matthew R. & Podwol, Joseph Uri & Schneider, Henry S., 2014. "Search costs and equilibrium price dispersion in auction markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 173-192.
    5. repec:smu:ecowpa:1301 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Bing Jing, 2018. "Showrooming and Webrooming: Information Externalities Between Online and Offline Sellers," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(3), pages 469-483, May.
    7. Stahl, Dale O., 1996. "Oligopolistic pricing with heterogeneous consumer search," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 243-268.
    8. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan & Patrick Scholten, 2006. "Persistent Price Dispersion in Online Markets," Chapters, in: Dennis W. Jansen (ed.), The New Economy and Beyond, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Grosfeld-Nir, Abraham & Sarne, David & Spiegler, Israel, 2009. "Modeling the search for the least costly opportunity," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(2), pages 667-674, September.
    10. Bing Jing, 2007. "Product differentiation under imperfect information: When does offering a lower quality pay?," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 35-61, March.
    11. Gatti, J.R.J. & Kattuman, P., 2003. "Online Price Dispersion Within and Between Seven European Countries," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0343, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Lindgren, Charlie & Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Rudholm, Niklas, 2021. "Pricing In Retail Markets With Low Search Costs: Evidence From A Price Comparison Website," HFI Working Papers 18, Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut).
    13. Waldeck, Roger, 2008. "Search and price competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 347-357, May.
    14. Roger Waldeck, 2008. "Search and price competition," Post-Print hal-02161480, HAL.
    15. Sengupta Anirban & Wiggins Steven N., 2012. "Comparing Price Dispersion on and off the Internet Using Airline Transaction Data," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-38, March.
    16. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan & Patrick Scholten, 2004. "Price Dispersion In The Small And In The Large: Evidence From An Internet Price Comparison Site," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 463-496, December.
    17. Joshua Sherman & Avi Weiss, 2017. "On Fruitful And Futile Tests Of The Relationship Between Search And Price Dispersion," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(4), pages 1898-1918, October.
    18. Delphine Irac & Claire Célérier & Philippe Askenazy, 2010. "Vente à distance, internet et dynamiques des prix," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 194(3), pages 1-13.
    19. David Ronayne, 2021. "Price Comparison Websites," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1081-1110, August.
    20. Pereira, Pedro, 2005. "Do lower search costs reduce prices and price dispersion?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 61-72, January.
    21. Kathy Baylis & Jeffrey Perloff, 2002. "Price Dispersion on the Internet: Good Firms and Bad Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 21(3), pages 305-324, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:20:y:2002:i:1:p:25-37. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.