Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers Creation-Date: 2005-02-17 Number: 05-022/1 Author-Name: Maarten C.W. Janssen Author-Email: janssen@few.eur.nl Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Author-Name: Mariëlle C. Non Author-Email: non@few.eur.nl Author-Workplace-Name: Faculty of Economics, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Title: Advertising and Consumer Search in a Duopoly Model Abstract: We consider a duopoly in a homogenous goods market where part of the consumers are ex ante uninformed about prices. Information can come through two different channels: advertising and sequential consumer search. We arrive at the following results. First, there is no monotone relationship between prices and the degree of advertising. Second, advertising and search are “substitutes” for a large range of parameters. Third, when the cost of either search or advertising vanishes, the competitive outcome arises. Finally, both expected advertised and non-advertised prices are non-monotonic in search cost. One of the implications is that firms actually may benefit from consumers having low (rather than high) search costs.

This discussion paper has resulted in a publication in International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2008, 26(1), 354-71. Classification-JEL: D83; L13; M37 Keywords: consumer search; advertising; price dispersion File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/05022.pdf File-Format: application/pdf File-Size: 709627 bytes Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20050022