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Product Selection in Online Marketplaces

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  • Federico Etro

Abstract

A marketplace such as Amazon hosts many products by third party sellers and acts as a first party or private label retailer. Assuming an advantage of Amazon in logistics and of sellers in marketing, we investigate whether entry by Amazon is excessive from the point of view of consumers. With competitive sellers, entry may be either overprovided or underprovided, but the incentives of Amazon and consumers are correctly aligned for a family of power surplus functions (generating for instance linear, isoelastic and loglinear demands). Competition for customers with other retailers reduces commissions and prices preserving the efficiency result. Market power by sellers increases (reduces) the incentives to retail private label (first party) products, and generates a bias toward underprovision of entry. Similar results apply after extending the analysis to delivery fulfilment by the marketplace, product differentiation with direct price competition on the platform, and dynamic incentives to invest and launch copycat products.

Suggested Citation

  • Federico Etro, 2020. "Product Selection in Online Marketplaces," Working Papers - Economics wp2020_20.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
  • Handle: RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2020_20.rdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Johannes Muthers & Sebastian Wismer, 2012. "Why Do Platforms Charge Proportional Fees? Commitment and Seller Participation," Working Papers 115, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    2. Etro, Federico, 2021. "Device-funded vs ad-funded platforms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Yassine Lefouili & Leonardo Madio, 2022. "The economics of platform liability," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 319-351, June.
    4. Federico Etro, 2023. "Hybrid Marketplaces with Free Entry of Sellers," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 119-148, March.
    5. Etro, Federico, 2023. "Platform competition with free entry of sellers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Doh-Shin Jeon & Yassine Lefouili & Leonardo Madio, 2021. "Platform Liability and Innovation," Working Papers 21-05, NET Institute.
    7. Michele Bisceglia & Jorge Padilla, 2023. "On sellers' cooperation in hybrid marketplaces," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 207-222, January.
    8. Martin Peitz, 2023. "Governance and Regulation of Platforms," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_480, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    9. Radostina Shopova, 2021. "Private Labels in Marketplaces," Vienna Economics Papers vie2104, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    10. Muthers Johannes & Wismer Sebastian, 2022. "Why Do Platforms Charge Proportional Fees? Commitment and Seller Participation," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 83-110, August.
    11. Anderson, Simon & Bedre-Defolie, Özlem, 2022. "Online trade platforms: Hosting, selling, or both?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 84, pages 1-15.
    12. Saruta, Fuyuki, 2023. "Private labels and platform competition," MPRA Paper 119585, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Mark J. Tremblay, 2020. "The Limits of Marketplace Fee Discrimination," Working Papers 20-10, NET Institute.
    14. Li, Jianbin & Wang, Yingying & Liu, Zhixin & Cai, Xueyuan & Xie, Wen, 2022. "Joint optimal strategies on service investment and drug pricing for a two-sided online pharmaceutical platform," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    15. Reimer, Julia & Doganoglu, Toker, 2023. "Optimal Operating Mode of a Platform," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277683, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Yusuke Zennyo, 2022. "Platform Encroachment and Own‐Content Bias," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 684-710, September.
    17. Bisceglia, Michele & Padilla, Jorge & Piccolo, Salvatore & Shekhar, Shiva, 2022. "Vertical integration, innovation and foreclosure with competing ecosystems," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Lam, Wing Man Wynne & Liu, Xingyi, 2023. "Dancing with rivals: How does platform’s information usage benefit independent sellers?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(1), pages 421-431.
    19. Kittaka, Yuta & Sato, Susumu & Zennyo, Yusuke, 2023. "Self-preferencing by platforms: A literature review," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    20. Andrei Hagiu & Tat‐How Teh & Julian Wright, 2022. "Should platforms be allowed to sell on their own marketplaces?," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 53(2), pages 297-327, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entry; product selection; platform competition; business models; intermediaries.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies

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    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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