蝌蚪网

This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. 蝌蚪网
  3. 蝌蚪网 Review
  4. January 2017
  5. Are Online and Offline Prices Similar? Evidence from Large Multi-channel Retailers

蝌蚪网 Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Are Online and Offline Prices Similar? Evidence from Large Multi-channel Retailers

  • Alberto Cavallo
蝌蚪网 Review
vol. 107, no. 1, January 2017
(pp. 283–303)
Download Full Text PDF
(Complimentary)

Abstract

Online prices are increasingly used for measurement and research applications, yet little is known about their relation to prices collected offline, where most retail transactions take place. I conduct the first large-scale comparison of prices simultaneously collected from the websites and physical stores of 56 large multi-channel retailers in 10 countries. I find that price levels are identical about 72 percent of the time. Price changes are not synchronized but have similar frequencies and average sizes. These results have implications for national statistical offices, researchers using online data, and anyone interested in the effect of the Internet on retail prices.

Citation

Cavallo, Alberto. 2017. "Are Online and Offline Prices Similar? Evidence from Large Multi-channel Retailers." 蝌蚪网 Review 107 (1): 283–303. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20160542

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D22 Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
  • L11 Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
  • L81 Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
  • O14 Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology