网络市场效率与价格离散研究

The On-line Market Efficiency and The Price Dispersion

网络市场是一个新兴的市场,最近十年获得了飞速的发展。网络市场的效率是学者们一直争论的问题,价格离散可以用来表征网络市场效率的高低,网上价格离散具有多种动因。不同的网络零售商具有不同的发展战略,具有不同战略目标的网络零售商在定价战略和定价方面的选择具有明显的不同。

As an emerging market, the on-line market is developing at an astonishing speed in the latest decade. This paper discusses the efficiency of the on-line market, examining the relationship between on-line market efficiency and price dispersion as well as the influence factors of price dispersion. Furthermore, we analyze the strategy choice of different online firms and compare the pricing methodologies between pure play e-tailers and bricks-and-click companies. Firstly, whether online market and e-commerce are likely to decrease the search cost and at the same time to increase the market efficiency have long been disputed by researchers. Price dispersion, defined as the price distribution of an item with the same measured characteristics across sellers of the item at a given point of time, can be used as a measure of market efficiency. A large amount of price dispersion would suggest that the information of this market is inefficient. It has been proposed that the on-line market is a ＂frictionless＂ market. Due to transparent information and lower search cost, it is comparatively easy to enter such online market. If this market is highly competitive, we might expect the price dispersion to be low. However, empirical evidences reveal the opposite. Some research findings show that online price dispersion is not much lower than that of off-line. A great deal of product and price information has not only cut down the sensitivity of the consumers but also enlarged the product＇s price difference. Others demonstrate that online price dispersion is much likely to be higher/lower than that of traditional market, lying on the methodology used to measure it. No conclusion has been reached concerning whether the efficiency of online market is equal to or higher than that of conventional one. Secondly, potential drives of price dispersion are discussed. Simth, Baily and Bryjolfsson pointed out that heterogeneity of products, shopping convenience, consumer recognition, brand influence, consumer trust, customer lockup, and price discrimination are the possible drives for on-line price dispersion. Taking into account the on-line pricing process as well as the macro-micro environment of e-tailers, we can classify these influence factors and other drives into two aspects： the e-tailers＇ characteristics and the market characteristics. The e-tailers＇ characteristics are made up of shopping convenience, credibility of the contract, product information, logistics, time of the e-tailers entering the online market, e-tailers＇ brand, consumer recognition, shift cost, customer localization, price discrimination. The market characteristics include three aspects： numbers of the competitors in the market, degree of the consumers＇ involvement, and popularity of the products. Finally, we discuss e-tailers＇ pricing strategy and methodology. Pricing strategy has much to do with the firm＇s objective. Different types of e-tailers have different pricing strategies and methods. Pure-play e-tailers set up online shops with low prices in order to attract consumers and enlarge market shares. As both online and offline markets can bring profits, brick-and-click firms whose maximum focus will be on the profit are not anxious to enlarge their market shares. Thus high pricing strategy of online market may be adopted. As more and more products are sold on the Internet, this paper provides some practical discussions for e-tailers to make their pricing strategy and the methodology, which will be of great benefit to both the development of e-tailers and the on-line market.