Premium
Multibrand pricing as a strategy for consumer search obfuscation in online markets
Author(s) -
McDonald Stephen,
Wren Colin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of economics and management strategy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1530-9134
pISSN - 1058-6407
DOI - 10.1111/jems.12239
Subject(s) - obfuscation , business , set (abstract data type) , advertising , marketing , industrial organization , microeconomics , economics , computer science , computer security , programming language
This paper argues that a firm with multiple brands can obfuscate consumer search by excluding the brands of other firms from a consumer's consideration set. This is examined empirically by regressing price data for a leading U.K. motor insurance price comparison site (or “shopbot”). It finds that multibrand firms own three‐quarters of brands in this market, and that allowing for other brand strategies, they post significantly lower and clustered prices relative to other firms. The firms also conceal their brand ownership, consistent with search obfuscation. The results are not otherwise explained and they have implications for market competitiveness.