How to measure product differentiation

Arbeitspapier

In this article, we provide a novel measure of product differentiation by observing consumer search behavior directly. We track individual consumers in a price search engine and generate a measure of distance in product space, based on goods surveyed conjointly within individual search episodes. This metric performs well in an application to digital cameras as an example of complex products. Regression results show that differences in product characteristics are correlated with our measure of distance to a surprisingly high degree, and that prices are significantly lower if products have to compete with a larger number of close substitutes.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Working Paper ; No. 2101

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Market Structure, Pricing, and Design: Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection ; Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets ; Microelectronics; Computers; Communications Equipment
• Thema: product differentiation ; characteristic space ; consumer search ; price searchengine ; clickstream

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Hackl, Franz ; Hölzl-Leitner, Michael ; Pennerstorfer, Dieter
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Department of Economics
• (wo): Linz
• (wann): 2021

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/246318
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:41 MEZ