Title: Hybrids vs. DotComs: some online pricing patterns in the South Korean book market

Authors: Fang-Fang Tang

Addresses: Department of Marketing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China

Abstract: Using a data set with 5760 price observations in the South Korean online book market, we compare the pricing behaviour between online branches of multi-channel retailers (MCRs) and online-only retailers. We find that: prices by online-only retailers are lower than prices by online MCRs by an average around 15%; the price dispersion for the random titles is significantly lower among the online-only retailers than that among MCR online; online-only retailers change prices much more often than online MCRs although prices by both types are few. The evidence suggests that the pricing efficiency diminishes as the multi-channel retailing format dominants the online retailing market.

Keywords: Korean books; online pricing; online branches; multi-channel retailers; Korea; online-only retailers; internet; book retailers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2004.005021

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2004 Vol.1 No.3, pp.316 - 328

Published online: 23 Aug 2004 *

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