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  • American Economic Review

Are Online and Offline Prices Similar? Evidence from Large Multi-Channel Retailers

By: Alberto Cavallo
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Online prices are increasingly used for measurement and research applications, yet little is known about their relation to prices in physical stores, where most retail transactions occur. I conduct the first large-scale comparison of prices simultaneously collected from the websites and physical stores of 56 large multi-channel retailers in 10 countries. I find that price levels are identical about 72 percent of the time. Price changes are not synchronized but have similar frequencies and average sizes. These results have implications for national statistical offices, researchers using online data, and anyone interested in the effect of the Internet on retail prices.

Keywords

Online Prices; Offline Prices; Multi-channel Retailers; Price; Internet and the Web; Measurement and Metrics; Retail Industry

Citation

Cavallo, Alberto. "Are Online and Offline Prices Similar? Evidence from Large Multi-Channel Retailers." American Economic Review 107, no. 1 (January 2017): 283–303.

Supplemental Information

Data and Replication Files
Zip file contains the raw data and STATA 14 do files (scripts) needed to replicate all the results in the paper and appendix.
Tables in Excel Format
Appendix
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About The Author

Alberto F. Cavallo

Business, Government and the International Economy
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  • Tracking the Short-Run Price Impact of U.S. Tariffs By: Alberto Cavallo, Paola Llamas and Franco Vazquez
  • Large Shocks Travel Fast By: Alberto Cavallo, Francesco Lippi and Ken Miyahara
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