Price, Product Complexity, and Durability in Comparison Shopping

Abstract

This chapter examines how product price, product complexity and product durability influence consumers’ comparison shopping process. Frequently comparison shopping is equated only to price comparisons. However, comparison shopping is becoming far broader than finding the cheapest price over the Internet. Nowadays a vast variety of products are sold over the Internet. Some are relatively simple products such as books and movie DVDs. Others are more complex such as computer related products, travel reservations and real-estate properties. As the number of key product attributes increases, consumers apply different kinds of decision making rather than just looking for the cheapest price. Consumers also use different decision making tactics between durable and non-durable products. This chapter looks into the implications of such differences for consumers and product sellers. It concludes with managerial implications and future research agendas.