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Spring 2002

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 17, Number 2

Categories: Spring 2002 | Industry

Pricing, Market Efficiency, and Consumer Choice in Internet Commerce

Richard H. Courtney , St. Mary's College of California

Douglas W. Gentry, St. Mary's College of California

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Pricing,MarketEfficiency,andConsumerChoiceinInternetCommerceRichardH.CourtneySt.Mary=sCollegeofCaliforniaDouglasW.GentrySt.Mary=sCollegeofCaliforniaSalesofconsumerproductsviatheInternetbyU.S.firmscontinuetogrowrapidly.U.S.retaile-commercesalesforthefourthquarterof2000totaled$8.69billion,anincreaseof67.1percentfromsalesinthefourthquarterof1999and35.9percentfromthethirdquarterof2000.Thesee-commercesalesincreasesareinsharpcontrastwiththegrowthofU.S.totalretailsales(includinge-commercesales).Totalretailsalesincreasedonly4.2percentfromthefourthquarterof1999tothefourthquarterof2000and5.4percentfromthethirdquarterof2000tothefourthquarterof2000.Thesustainedstronggrowthinretaile-commercesalesisoneindicationthatconsumersarebecominglessreluctanttomakepurchasesonline.Evenwiththemuchmorerapidgrowthofretaile-commercesalesthantotalretailsales,theshareoftotalretailsalesaccountedforbye-commercetransactionsreachedonly1.0percentinthefourthquarterof2000.However,ifrecentgrowthtrendsaresustained,theInternetwill,ultimately,becomeofconsiderableimportancetoconsumersasanalternativetotraditionalAbrickandmortar@retailers,andasignificantcomponentoftotalretailsales.Thestructureoftheretailingsectorislikelytocontinuetoevolve,butwiththelonger-termstructureofretaildistributionbeingunpredictableatpresent.However,itdoesseemlikelythattherewillbesomeconvergenceoftraditionalretailersandInternetsellersovertimewithmanyfirmsmakingsalesviabothformsofdistribution.SeveralquestionsareraisedbyrapidgrowthofconsumerproductsalesviatheInternet.First,whyareInternetsalesgrowingsorapidly?OnehypothesisfrequentlysuggestedisthatconsumersareattractedtoInternetsellersbylowerpricesthanareavailable

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Metadata [hide]

Title	Pricing, Market Efficiency, and Consumer Choice in Internet Commerce
Authors/Creators:	Richard H. Courtney , St. Mary's College of California Douglas W. Gentry, St. Mary's College of California
Year:	2002
Volume:	17
Number:	2
Pages:	86 - 108
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles
Keywords:	Internet commerce, Prices, Efficiency, Consumer behaviour, Retail marketing, Elasticity, Costs, Taxation, Competition

Citation:
Courtney, Richard H.; Gentry, Douglas W. / 2002. "Pricing, Market Efficiency, and Consumer Choice in Internet Commerce." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 17(2): 86-108.