Price matching and platform pricing

Anna Bottasso, Paolo Marocco and Simone Robbiano

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: We investigate the effects of Price Matching Guarantees (PMGs) commercial policies adopted by the US NewEgg online platform on prices of a representative sample of consumer electronics products. By applying a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) identification strategy, we find price reductions of about 3% occurring after the policy implementation. Moreover, we control for products characteristics recovered from User Generated Contents (UGCs) and perform heterogeneity analysis based on products appreciation and visibility. Estimates suggest that for high appreciated (and visible) products prices are higher during the policy validity period, while some specifications provide evidence in favour of price reductions occurring after the policy implementation for low appreciated and low visible goods. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that NewEgg’s PMGs policies can act as tools for price discrimination.

Keywords: Price Matching Guarantees; Online Sales Platforms; User Generated Contents; Difference-in-Differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L11 L15 L20 L81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-03, Revised 2022-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-pay
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https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/113414/1/MPRA_paper_113414.pdf original version (application/pdf)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119212/1/MPRA_paper_119212.pdf revised version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Price matching and platform pricing (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:113414

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