IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/qmktec/v1y2003i2p203-222.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Prices and Price Competition Online: Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com

Author

Listed:
  • Judith Chevalier
  • Austan Goolsbee

Abstract

Despite the interest in measuring price sensitivity of online consumers, most academic work on Internet commerce is hindered by a lack of data on quantity. In this paper we use publicly available data on the sales ranks of about 20,000 books to derive quantity proxies at the two leading online booksellers. Matching this information to prices, we can directly estimate the elasticities of demand facing both merchants as well as create a price index for online books. The results show significant price sensitivity at both merchants but demand at BarnesandNoble.com is much more price-elastic than is demand at Amazon.com. The data also allow us to estimate the magnitude of bias in the CPI due to the rise of Internet sales. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003

Suggested Citation

  • Judith Chevalier & Austan Goolsbee, 2003. "Measuring Prices and Price Competition Online: Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 203-222, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:qmktec:v:1:y:2003:i:2:p:203-222
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1024634613982
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1023/A:1024634613982
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1024634613982?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen Clay & Ramayya Krishnan & Eric Wolff, 2001. "Prices and Price Dispersion on the Web: Evidence from the Online Book Industry," NBER Chapters, in: E-commerce, pages 521-539, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jeffrey R. Brown & Austan Goolsbee, 2002. "Does the Internet Make Markets More Competitive? Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(3), pages 481-507, June.
    3. 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.
    4. Austan Goolsbee, 1999. "Evidence on the High-Income Laffer Curve from Six Decades of Tax Reform," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 30(2), pages 1-64.
    5. Karen Clay & Ramayya Krishnan & Eric Wolff, 2001. "Prices and Price Dispersion on the Web: Evidence from the Online Book Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 521-539, December.
    6. Michael D. Smith & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2001. "Consumer Decision-making at an Internet Shopbot: Brand Still Matters," NBER Chapters, in: E-commerce, pages 541-558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Paul Klemperer, 1987. "Markets with Consumer Switching Costs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 102(2), pages 375-394.
    8. Khan, Shakeeb & Powell, James L., 2001. "Two-step estimation of semiparametric censored regression models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1-2), pages 73-110, July.
    9. Morton, Fiona Scott & Zettelmeyer, Florian & Silva-Risso, Jorge, 2001. "Internet Car Retailing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 501-519, December.
    10. Honore, Bo E, 1992. "Trimmed LAD and Least Squares Estimation of Truncated and Censored Regression Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(3), pages 533-565, May.
    11. Chevalier, Judith A & Scharfstein, David S, 1996. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Countercyclical Markups: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 703-725, September.
    12. Fiona Scott Morton & Florian Zettelmeyer & Jorge Silva‐Risso, 2001. "Internet Car Retailing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 501-519, December.
    13. 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.
    14. Austan Goolsbee, 2001. "Competition in the Computer Industry," NBER Working Papers 8351, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Jack High (ed.), 2001. "Competition," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1751.
    16. Michael D. Smith & Erik Brynjolfsson, 2001. "Consumer Decision-making at an Internet Shopbot: Brand Still Matters," NBER Chapters, in: E-commerce, pages 541-558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Fiona Scott Morton & Florian Zettelmeyer & Jorge Silva-Risso, 2001. "Internet Car Retailing," NBER Chapters, in: E-commerce, pages 501-519, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Karen Clay & Ramayya Krishnan & Eric Wolff, 2001. "Prices and Price Dispersion on the Web: Evidence from the Online Book Industry," NBER Chapters, in: E-commerce, pages 521-539, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Kenneth Y. Chay & James L. Powell, 2001. "Semiparametric Censored Regression Models," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 29-42, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Glenn Ellison & Sara Fisher Ellison, 2009. "Search, Obfuscation, and Price Elasticities on the Internet," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(2), pages 427-452, March.
    2. Austan Goolsbee & Judith Chevalier, 2002. "Measuring Prices and Price Competition Online: Amazon and Barnes and Noble," NBER Working Papers 9085, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Anindya Ghose & Yuliang Yao, 2011. "Using Transaction Prices to Re-Examine Price Dispersion in Electronic Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 269-288, June.
    4. Ginger Zhe Jin & Andrew Kato, 2007. "Dividing Online and Offline: A Case Study," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 981-1004.
    5. Byrne, David P. & Martin, Leslie A., 2021. "Consumer search and income inequality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Thomas A. Weber & Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng, 2007. "A Model of Search Intermediaries and Paid Referrals," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 414-436, December.
    7. Chun, Se-Hak & Kim, Jae-Cheol, 2005. "Analysis of price competition and strategic implications for heterogeneous market structure," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 455-468.
    8. Khan, Beethika S., 2004. "Consumer Adoption of Online Banking: Does Distance Matter?," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt2bt1d76s, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    9. Austan Goolsbee & Judith Chevalier, 2002. "Measuring Prices and Price Competition Online: Amazon and Barnes and Noble," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm290, Yale School of Management, revised 12 Sep 2008.
    10. Peter Mayerhofer & Peter Huber & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2017. "Handel und Einzelhandel im Wiener Beschäftigungssystem. Arbeitsmarktrelevanz, Arbeitsplatzcharakteristika, absehbare Herausforderungen," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 61951, February.
    11. Beethika Khan, 2004. "Consumer Adoption of Online Banking: Does Distance Matter?," Development and Comp Systems 0407002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Baye, Michael & Morgan, John, 2004. "Brand and Price Advertising in Online Markets," Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series qt9760k3hz, Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    13. Jaume Rosselló Nadal & Antoni Riera Font, 2008. "Pricing on the European Mass Tourism Market: Tour Operators, Low Cost Carriers and Internet," CRE Working Papers (Documents de treball del CRE) 2008/4, Centre de Recerca Econòmica (UIB ·"Sa Nostra").
    14. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan, 2005. "Probabilistic Patents," Microeconomics 0504004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. José Luis Moraga-González & Zsolt Sándor & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2017. "Prices and heterogeneous search costs," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 48(1), pages 125-146, March.
    16. Ruby P. Kishan & Dean Showalter & Timothy P. Opiela, 2021. "Internet Access and Bank Deposit Rates," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 49(4), pages 405-421, December.
    17. José L. Moraga-González & Zsolt Sándor & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2014. "Prices, Product Differentiation, and Heterogeneous Search Costs," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-080/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. Zach Y. Brown, 2019. "Equilibrium Effects of Health Care Price Information," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 699-712, October.
    19. Maris Goldmanis & Ali Hortaçsu & Chad Syverson & Önsel Emre, 2010. "E-Commerce and the Market Structure of Retail Industries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(545), pages 651-682, June.
    20. Ya-Ling Chiu & Jiangze Du & Jying-Nan Wang, 2022. "The Effects of Price Dispersion on Sales in the Automobile Industry: A Dynamic Panel Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, August.

    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:kap:qmktec:v:1:y:2003:i:2:p:203-222. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.