Buying Online: Sequential Decision Making by Shopbot Visitors

Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, Uwe Dulleck, Franz Hackl () and Bernhard Weiss

No 6939, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: In this article we propose a two stage procedure to model demand decisions by customers who are balancing several dimensions of a product. We then test our procedure by analyzing the behavior of buyers from an Austrian price comparison site. Although in such a market a consumer will typically search for the cheapest price for a given product, reliability and service of the supplier are other important characteristics of a retailer. In our data, consumers follow such a two stage procedure: they select a shortlist of suppliers by using the price variable only; finally, they trade off reliability and price among these shortlisted suppliers.

Keywords: Decision theory; E-commerce; Heuristics; Price comparison; Seller reputation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 L81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mkt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Buying Online: Sequential Decision Making by Shopbot Visitors (2008)
Working Paper: Buying Online: Sequential Decision Making by Shopbot Visitors (2008)
Working Paper: Buying Online: Sequential Decision Making by Shopbot Visitors (2008)
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