A model of price search behavior in electronic marketplace

A conceptual model and a set of propositions are developed to explain the main factors influencing online price search, which integrates the psychological search literature under the context of online environment by incorporating ability and cost to search for information into “perceived search efficiency”.

Abstract

An increasing interest in consumer behavior online is the investigation of their price search activities. Most empirical evidence from Internet shopping literature suggests through reducing search cost, that the Internet will increase consumer price search and intensify price competition. This paper develops a conceptual model and a set of propositions to explain the main factors influencing online price search. Specifically, this model integrates the psychological search literature under the context of online environment by incorporating ability and cost to search for information into “perceived search efficiency”, and the factors that center on the perceived benefits and motivation of price search are investigated as well.