Closely Competing Firms and Price Adjustment: Some Findings from an Online Marketplace

B-Tier
Journal: Scandanavian Journal of Economics
Year: 2010
Volume: 112
Issue: 4
Pages: 673-696

Authors (3)

Takayuki Mizuno (not in RePEc) Makoto Nirei (University of Tokyo) Tsutomu Watanabe (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We investigate retailers' price‐setting behavior using a unique dataset containing by‐the‐second records of prices offered by closely competing retailers on a major Japanese price‐comparison website. First, we find that, when the average price of a product across retailers falls rapidly, the frequency of price adjustments increases, and the size of price adjustments becomes larger. Second, we find positive autocorrelation in the frequency of price adjustments, implying that there tends to be clustering where price adjustments occur in succession. In contrast, there is no such autocorrelation in the size of price adjustments. These two findings indicate that the behavior of competing retailers is characterized by state‐dependent pricing rather than time‐dependent pricing.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:scandj:v:112:y:2010:i:4:p:673-696
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-26