Download or read book Consumer Search Behavior and Its Effect on Markets written by Brian T. Ratchford and published by Now Publishers Inc. This book was released on 2009 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Consumer Search Behavior and its Effect on Markets focuses on the consumer side of the market, on what is known about how consumers search for needed information, and on how this impacts the behavior of markets. The author discusses three broad strands of this literature -- normative models of search and their application to consumer search; empirical studies of the search process; and implications of consumer search for the behavior of markets, including pricing, advertising and retailing. In general, the author examines external search -- the search for information from sources other than memory. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the Internet on markets. Consumer Search Behavior and its Effect on Markets also examines the broader issues about alternatives considered, sources consulted, extent of consumer knowledge, and the impact of these factors on markets and marketing institutions.

Download or read book The Effect of Information on Consumer and Market Behavior written by Andrew A. Mitchell and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: In order to understand how the market system provides information to buyers, the effect of information on consumer and market behavior is examined from the perspectives of economics, consumer psychology, and public policy. Economic analyses of information transmission and advertising are presented. Effects of different types of information on the behavior of firms, and information search strategies which consumers use to extract information from mass media advertisements are evaluated. Theories of information encoding and storage are described in terms of their implications for consumer research. The causes of information imperfections in local consumer markets (markets where different prices are charged for the same quality) are reviewed. Advertising regulation policy considerations are also examined. Consumer information systems for local services are discussed from the viewpoint of information needs and consumer patterns of information avoidance. (nm).

Download or read book Three Essays on Consumer Search Behaviour in Experimental Market Environments written by Changxia Ke and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis investigates consumer search behavior in different contexts and its implications on certain market outcomes. It consists of three self-contained essays. Part one investigates if people search optimally and how price promotions (such as the provision of price discounts) influence search intensity and risk-taking behavior. We start with a typical sequential search task in a finite time horizon (with exogenously determined price dispersion) as the baseline treatment. In the two experimental treatments, exogenous discounts are introduced to the search process. The treatments differ in the amount of information on the discounts revealed to the subjects. Subjects' search behavior is roughly consistent with optimality for a risk-neutral agent, but significantly influenced by the introduction of discount vouchers. We find that subjects' search intensity is significantly reduced if they are in a shop that offers discounts, even when the monetary benefit induced by the discount has been taken into account. This suggests that people seem to gain extra non-monetary utility from buying a discounted product. Alternatively, subjects might overestimate the value of a discount. Following the findings in part one, we focus on price-framing effects of discounts on consumer search behavior in part two. In order to isolate the price-framing effect from all other possible influences, we adopt an extremely simple two-shop search model in which a consumer who sees the price for an item in a shop has to decide either to buy it or to incur a search cost to learn the ex-ante uncertain price in a second shop. The experiment is designed such that a rational buyer should make identical decisions in the base treatment (where prices are posted as net prices in both shops) and in the experimental treatments (where the price in one of the shops is framed as a gross price with a discount, holding the net-price constant). Using structural estimation of the observed risk preferences, we find that people tend to be more risk-averse and hence buy from the initial shop more often in the discount treatments, regardless of where the discount is offered. The seemingly trivial change to a discount-framing increases the complexity of the decision problem. Subjects reveal a tendency to stick with the comparatively less complex options more frequently as the complexity of the decision problem increases. However, this bias declines with experience, as subjects become more and more familiar with the framing. In part three, we study search behavior in a market experiment, where prices are determined endogenously by human players. More specifically, we examine the behavioral factors and the underlying mechanism which drive the widely observed asymmetric price adjustment to cost shocks (in a world with costly search behavior and information asymmetry). We show that price dispersion, as well as asymmetric price adjustment to cost shocks, arises in experimental markets, even though the standard theory predicts neither. We find that after controlling all the potential theoretical factors, the observed price dispersion can be explained by the presence of bounded rational play. Under price dispersion, asymmetric price adjustment arises naturally, as it is harder for buyers to learn that a negative cost shock has taken place. Learning is much quicker after a positive shock.

Download or read book Understanding the Digital Economy written by Erik Brynjolfsson and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2002-01-25 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rapid growth of electronic commerce, along with changes in information, computing, and communications, is having a profound effect on the United States economy. President Clinton recently directed the National Economic Council, in consultation with executive branch agencies, to analyze the economic implications of the Internet and electronic commerce domestically and internationally, and to consider new types of data collection and research that could be undertaken by public and private organizations. This book contains work presented at a conference held by executive branch agencies in May 1999 at the Department of Commerce. The goals of the conference were to assess current research on the digital economy, to engage the private sector in developing the research that informs investment and policy decisions, and to promote better understanding of the growth and socioeconomic implications of information technology and electronic commerce. Aspects of the digital economy addressed include macroeconomic assessment, organizational change, small business, access, market structure and competition, and employment and the workforce.

Download or read book Handbook of Research on Consumerism and Buying Behavior in Developing Nations written by Gbadamosi, Ayantunji and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2016-05-31 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having a grasp on what appeals to consumers and how consumers are making purchasing decisions is essential to the success of any organization that thrives by offering a product or service. Despite the importance of consumer knowledge and understanding, research-based insight into the buying patterns and consumption habits of individuals in emerging nations remains limited. The Handbook of Research on Consumerism and Buying Behavior in Developing Nations takes a critical look at the often overlooked opportunities available for driving consumer demand and interest in developing countries. Emphasizing the power of the consumer market in emerging economies and their overall role in the global market system, this edited volume features research-based perspectives on consumer perception, behavior, and relationship management across industries. This timely publication is an essential resource for marketing professionals, consumer researchers, international business strategists, scholars, and graduate-level students.

Download or read book International Consumer Behavior in the 21st Century written by A. Coskun Samli and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-11-28 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past two decades, the face of the world consumer has truly changed. Goods are more available, information about these goods is more open and accessible, and the ability to buy these goods from any corner of the earth has become possible. As a result, international marketing is more important now than ever before. In this book, Josh Samli explores the challenges facing modern international marketers. He explains what it is to have successful communication with the target market: using social media to share consistent information about products and services, communicating directly with culture-driven consumers who already communicate online amongst themselves and with competitors, and mastering people-to-people communication with both privileged and non-privileged consumers. Any company dealing with international marketing must learn how to handle these new challenges in order to survive in the 21st century.

Download or read book Consumer Search and Public Policy written by Howard Beales and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Determinants of the Consumer s Search for Information written by Jung Sung Yeo and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Determinants and Consequences of Search Cost Heterogeneity written by Mitsukuni Nishida and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Information frictions play a key role in an array of economic activities and are frequently incorporated into formal models as search costs. However, little is known about the underlying source of consumer search costs and how heterogeneous they are across consumers and markets. This paper documents the sources and magnitude of heterogeneity in consumer search costs and analyzes how the heterogeneity shapes firms' pricing and consumers' search behavior. By identifying hundreds of geographically isolated markets, we are the first to estimate the distribution of consumer search costs for many geographic markets. We directly recover the distribution of consumer search costs market by market using retail gasoline price data in the United States. We find that the distribution of consumer search costs varies significantly across geographic markets and that the distribution of household income is closely associated with the search cost distribution. We find that a policy that reduces both the standard deviation and mean of the search cost distribution has heterogeneous and potentially unintended consequences on prices across markets.

Download or read book Consumers and Markets written by Rajagopal and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Consumer Behavior Organizational Strategy and Financial Economics written by Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-03-30 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents selected articles from the 21st Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference, which was held in Budapest (Hungary) in 2017. The theoretical and empirical papers in this volume cover various areas of business, economics, and finance from a diverse range of regions. In particular, this volume focuses on the latest trends in consumer behavior, new questions in the development of organizational strategy, and the interaction of financial economics with industrial economics and policy.

Download or read book Consumerology written by Philip Graves and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2013-01-24 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why market research does not work. Available in paperback for the first time, this new updated and revised second edition of Consumer.ology: The Truth About Consumers and the Psychology of Shopping contains a new preface and epilogue, in which Philip Graves reveals the myriad tricks and psychological games high street shops play on consumers; the ways in which we are manipulated into buying things we don't want; the ways in which we deceive ourselves; and the cutting edge behavioural science being used to change our habits to even more significant degrees. Graves, one of the world's leading experts in consumer behavior, reveals why the findings obtained from most market research are completely unreliable. Whether it is company executives seeking to define their corporate strategy or politicians wanting to understand the electorate, the idea that questions answered on a questionnaire or discussed in a focus group can provide useful insights on which to base business decisions is the cause of product failures, political blunders and wasted billions. Using his unique AFECT approach, a set of five criteria to evaluate the reliability of any consumer insight, Graves asserts that it's time for a fresh approach that embraces this new understanding of human behavior.

Download or read book Consumer Search with Uninformed Buyers and Imperfect Recall written by Ian M. McCarthy and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes two aspects of the standard sequential consumer search model: (1) the role of the consumer's ex ante information structure on market outcomes and search behavior; and (2) the effect of imperfect recall on market outcomes and search behavior. Simulated equilibria are generated using a Genetic Algorithm. This analysis shows that price dispersion increases (and average prices decrease) with consumers' ex ante knowledge of firm prices and with consumers' ability to recall previously visited firms. Conversely, search intensity increases with consumers' ex ante knowledge of firm prices and with consumers' ability to recall previously visited firms. Despite heterogeneous search costs and costs of production, the analysis shows that firms resort to homogeneous pricing (well above maximum marginal costs) if consumers' ability to recall previous price quotes is sufficiently low.

Download or read book The Connected Customer written by Stefan H.K. Wuyts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-01-19 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today’s connected consumer environment, customers are better informed and harder to please, but they also leave a more visible evidence trail in the form of improved databases and customer information. Consumers are increasingly interconnected through various sorts of social networks, a trend that is facilitated by recent advances in electronic media and telecommunication (i.e., MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Cyworld). Consumers are also increasingly connected with brands and seek to play a more participative role in their relationship with companies, stimulating companies to reconsider how to connect with consumers. This book consists of a collection of chapters by thought-leaders in the field of marketing and beyond that deals with the rich facets of connectivity. This edited volume is a great source of research ideas and fresh theory building for academics and students in marketing and related fields who wish to understand this exciting field. It will be a source of inspiration for practitioners who are eager to take up the challenge and adapt their marketing strategies to the changing nature of consumer and business markets.

Download or read book Consumer Information Search Revisited written by Sridhar Moorthy and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding consumers information search behavior is presented. Unlike previous research, our model not only identifies what factors affect consumers search behavior, but also how they interact with each other. In particular, it emphasizes the interactive effect of prior market perceptions on the search process. We argue that when consumers have brand-specific prior distributions, then the existence of relative uncertainty among brands is necessary for a search to be useful. Thus we explain why product class involvement or low search costs may not be sufficient to induce large amounts of search activity, and why there may be an inverse-U shaped relationship between search activity and experience. We test our theory on consumers search behavior for new automobiles, using data collected contemporaneously with the consumers actual decision process. Our data support our theory.

Download or read book Behavioral Consequences of Dynamic Pricing written by David Prakash and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2022-08-19 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Digital technologies are driving the application of dynamic pricing. Today, this pricing strategy is used not only for perishable products such as flights or hotel rooms, but for almost any product or service category. With dynamic pricing, retailers frequently adjust their prices over time to respond to factors such as demand, their supply and that of competitors, or the time of sale. Additionally, dynamic pricing allows retailers to take advantage of a large share of consumers' willingness to pay while avoiding losses from unsold products. Ultimately, this can lead to an increase in revenue and profit. However, the application of dynamic pricing comes with great challenges. In addition to the technological implementation, companies have to take into account that dynamic pricing can cause complex and unintended behavioral consequences on the consumer side. The key objective of this dissertation is to provide a deeper understanding of the impact of dynamic pricing on consumer behavior. To this end, this dissertation presents insights from four perspectives. First, how reference prices as a critical component in purchase decisions are operationalized. Second, how customers search for products priced dynamically, differentiated by business and private customers, as well as by different devices used for the search. Third, whether and how dynamic pricing influences the impact of internal reference prices on purchase decisions. Finally, this dissertation demonstrates that consumers perceive price changes as personalized in different purchase contexts, leading to reduced perceptions of fairness and undesirable behavioral consequences.

Download or read book Consumer Search on the Internet written by Babur De los Santos and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes search frictions in online markets using novel data on the web browsing and purchasing behavior of a large panel of consumers. This dataset is unique in that consumer search behavior prior to a transaction is observed. Although recent models have shown that large price dispersion persists in various markets, and this dispersion is directly related to the magnitude of consumer search costs, little attention has been given to quantifying these costs. I use data on consumers shopping for books online to link prices and consumer search patterns at different bookstores to estimate consumer search costs in the context of an equilibrium search model. The search patterns indicate that consumers visit relatively few firms and exhibit a strong search preference for prominent retailers. I control for search intensities at different retailers during consumers' search process and find that search cost estimates are lower than when assuming consumers sample equally among alternatives. Accounting for unequal consumer search reduces search cost estimates in half from $1.8 to $0.9 per search. I examined the search cost heterogeneity by using a rich set of consumer characteristics and relating them to search patterns and search costs estimates. I use a flexible random effects model in which the number and order of firms visited by the consumer is her optimal ordered choices, allowing search cost cutoffs to depend on regressors. The estimates indicate that consumer search costs are related to their observable characteristics, such as income, where individuals with income greater than $100,000 incur relatively higher search costs.