Price Comparison Websites

David Ronayne

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: The large and growing industry of price comparison websites (PCWs) or web aggregators is poised to benefit consumers by increasing competitive pricing pressure on firms by acquainting shoppers with more prices. However, these sites also charge firms for sales, which feeds back to raise prices. I find that introducing any number of PCWs to a market increases prices for all consumers, both those who use the sites, and those who do not. I then use my framework to identify ways in which a more competitive environment could be achieved

Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-ind and nep-mkt
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/w ... rp_1056b_ronayne.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: PRICE COMPARISON WEBSITES (2021)
Working Paper: Price Comparison website (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1056

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