Organized Shopping Blog: Study: Price Comparison May Lead to Higher Prices

March 18, 2005

Study: Price Comparison May Lead to Higher Prices

So says a sassy summary of a study published in the March issue of Management Science.

Researchers throw water on Internet comparison shopping (austin.bizjournals.com)

"We're challenging the conventional wisdom and showing that making it easier for consumers to compare prices on the Web may actually result in higher prices and reduced consumer welfare," says Waleed Muhanna, co-author of the study

Where is my old library card? I might do the unthinkable and read the article before commenting.

I mention this because Waleed Muhanna's website has several interesting-sounding studies, including "Search and Collusion in Electronic Markets" and "The Impact of E-Commerce on the Real Estate Industry" on the publications page. The first one is pending publication, but the second one is good to go.

p.s. - I have to take issue with the title at BizJournals... "throw water" on comparison shopping? Just because one component of comparison shopping did not live up to some people's unrealistic expectations, which some would argue is a lower-order component anyway, we are to throw water, presumably dirty bathwater, on the baby that is comparison shopping? Objection... Sustained!

Study: Price Comparison May Lead to Higher Prices (2)
Posted by Sean O'Rourke on March 18, 2005 at 7:27 AM
Archived at Price Comparison

Comments

Sean have you read and/or commented on this research article yet?

Posted by Marc at July 22, 2005 7:20 AM

No, not yet. Funny timing though. I had it written down and kept meaning to get to it when it was convenient, but you know how the last few months have been in this area. This week, I fowarded the info to a student who will naturally be in the area. Moral of the story, if you want something done right, don't try to do everything yourself. :-)

I wanted to have bring together several articles on pricing research for the Price Comparison Week. The kicker is trying to find a big enough block of time to work on a five-part post. Guess it will have to be soon, with the holiday season and all.

Posted by Sean O'Rourke at July 28, 2005 7:40 AM