Innovation, Bestsellers and Digitization - Where to Find the Needle in the Haystack?

Arbeitspapier

We empirically analyze the role of e-Commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers in discovering new bestsellers in the book market, using the German market as an example. Using an AR(1)-Process, we find that when a title becomes a bestseller sales increase in e-Commerce and decrease in brick-and-mortar stores relative to a title that is not on the bestseller-list. This finding implies that consumers in the online channel respond by increasing sales upon receiving a quality signal (i.e., a title becoming a bestseller). Consumers in the offline channel seem to already know that title so that, compared to a title that is not on the bestseller-lists, sales are decreasing. This might imply that consumers in the offline channel are more likely to read future bestsellers.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics ; No. 12-2020

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Buchhandel ; Online-Handel ; Absatz ; Konsumentenverhalten ; Produktqualität ; Signalling ; Deutschland

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Goetz, Georg ; Herold, Daniel ; Klotz, Phil-Adrian ; Schaefer, Jan Thomas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Philipps-University Marburg, School of Business and Economics
• (where): Marburg
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/216652
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET