The Impacts of Online Retailers' Reputation and Competitors on Prices of Online products

[[abstract]]本研究旨在探討聲譽評價對網路零售商定價之影響。傳統上，賣方透過消費者的口耳相傳來建立良好聲譽之行銷模式，在現今之網路購物行為中已有了改變。在網購行為中，網路商品評價系統之建構，提供一個量化賣家聲譽的機會。而聲譽評價除了能提供消費者購物上的參考，或許亦能使零售商有別於其它競爭者，訂定更有利的產品價格。本研究的數據資料皆來自中國購物網站─淘寶網，包含5種產品類別，共有25項電子產品，數據蒐集期間共歷時8週，每週蒐集1次。為了探討聲譽評價對網路零售商定價之影響，本研究以線性迴歸對數據進行分析，發現以下結果：(一) 網路零售商的評價越高，則同樣產品會制定越高的價格。(二) 提供相同產品的零售商數量越多，則網路零售商會制定越低的價格。(三) 零售商評價與競爭者數量，兩者彼此之間對價格有正向的加乘影響效果。(四) 不同品牌與類別對定價會有不同的影響。(五) 零售商評價與競爭者數量各自對價格有固定影響之外，不同的品牌與類別還額外對價格產生不同的影響。[[abstract]]The study aims to explore the impact of reputation on how online retailers set their product prices. Traditionally, sellers establish good reputation by relying on consumers’ words of mouth. However, such kind of marketing model has changed in today’s online shopping behavior. Online shopping, especially the establishment of reputation system for online products, allows consumers to quantify sellers’ reputation. Reputation serves as a quality indicator for consumers during shopping, and it may also allow retailers to differentiate themselves from others by setting more advantageous product prices. The data in this study was collected from a Chinese online shopping site— Taobao.com, from five product categories and 25 electronic products. Data collection was conducted once a week and it took eight weeks to complete.To explore the influence of reputation on how online retailers set product prices, data analysis was conducted through linear regression in this study. Results were discovered as follows:1. The better an online retailer’s reputation was, the higher it set the price of the same product.2. The more retailers there were that provided the same product, the lower the product price was set by online retailers.3. Reputation of retailers and the number of competitors had a positive synergistic effect on prices.4. Different brands and categories had different impacts on prices.5. Reputation of retailers and the number of competitors had fixed effects on prices respectively; different brands and categories brought additional impacts on prices