Online marketplaces are increasingly adopting innovative business models such as using paid advertising as a major revenue source. We explore the two popular advertising tools, sponsored search and social media endorsement, in attracting web traffic from online sellers' perspective. We estimate...

This article examines how the consumer's search cost and filtering on a retail platform affect the platform, the third-party sellers, and the consumers. We show that, given the platform's percentage referral fee, a lower search cost can either increase or lower the platform's profit. By...

We investigate whether online travel agents (OTAs) assign hotels worse positions in their search results if these set lower hotel prices at other OTAs or on their own websites. We formally characterize how an OTA can use such a strategy to reduce price differentiation across distribution...

The strive for tighter control of distribution, quality and price - has led an increasing number of producers to include restrictions on the use of online marketplaces in their selective distribution agreements. This paper considers the effects of such restrictions and the legal approach they...

Rapid growth in e-commerce has altered the ability of jurisdictions to enforce commodity taxes on a destination basis. This results in different effective tax rates depending on the way in which goods and services are purchased and the characteristics of both the products and the sellers. We...

E-commerce is on the rise in Hungary, with significantly growing numbers of customers shopping online. This paper aims to identify the direct and indirect drivers of the double-digit growth rate, including the related macroeconomic indicators and the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)....

I address the degree to which variation in exposure to e-commerce is associated with entry and exit in the retail industry at the county level. To measure exposure to e-commmerce, I rely on within-state variation in relative search frequency for the phrase “amazon prime” as reported by...

Price comparison websites, where consumers can compare prices at a search cost that is close to zero, have become increasingly common around the world. Using daily information on prices, click-throughs, and the number of retailers for a sample of consumer electronics and durable goods over a...

Online ratings play an important role in many markets. We study the often disputed information content of these ratings, by proposing a reduced-form Bayesian model of the typical buyer's rating decision. Our empirical evidence based on eBay raw data is in line with even intricate predictions...

We develop a model of strategic geoblocking, where two competing multi-channel retailers, located in different countries, can decide to block access to their online store from foreign consumers. We characterize the equilibrium when firms decide unilaterally whether to introduce geoblocking...