Testing models of consumer search using data on web browsing and purchasing behavior

摘要

This paper utilized novel data on the web browsing and purchasing behavior of a large panel of consumers to test classical models of consumer search. The data allows to observe the online stores consumers visited while shopping for a particular item, and which store the consumer decided to buy from. The data that is used in this paper is data on consumers shopping for books online. The authors look at testable predictions of the sequential model versus the fixed sample size search model. (36 refs.)