Search and Purchase in Information-Overloaded Retail Electronic Marketplace: Does Price and Reputatioin Matter?

This study explores buyers’ search and purchase behavior in an information-overloaded retail Electronic Marketplace (EMP). Two instrumental variables, i.e. number of visitors and number of sales for an item, are used to represent buyers’ search and purchase behavior. Price and reputation, two of the most frequently researched independent variables in EMP studies, are considered. The relationships between the two IVs and the two DVs are verified when transaction items are of searchtype and of experience-type. This study is conducted using field data collected from Taobao (the most dominant retail EMP in China). It is found that reputation has consistent positive relationships with two DVs. Price has negative effects on two DVs. However, it might have no impacts in the case of experience-type items. Conclusively, in information overloaded EMP, reputation always matters in influencing buyers’ search and purchase behavior, while price only matters in the case of search-type items.