Exploring price and product information search behavior in e-market

Many have expected that the increased availability of price and product information over a wide range of vendors and low search costs on the Web would increase price competition, reduce price dispersion, and eventually lower the level of product price. However, recent empirical studies have shown somewhat conflicting results. Price dispersion still exists in many online industries even for commodities like books and CDs. This research explores the reason behind consumer search behavior on the Web. The results of this study show that consumers in e-market do not search for either price or product information, even with low search costs, as much as we have anticipated. The results also indicate that the traditional consumer segmentation in the physical market may not always apply in the e-market. In terms of price and product information searches, brand loyalists showed higher search activity than other e-consumer groups unlike in physical market.