When you shop online, are you sure that you’re getting the best price? Do you notice that online prices are all over the map – for the identical product?

That’s a phenomenon known as price dispersion.

Please join Hejun Zhuang from the BU Department of Business Administration, for the first presentation of the Faculty of Arts Speaker Series, which addresses these online price spreads.

The talk is titled “Why is Price Dispersion Higher Online than Offline? The Impact of Market Structure and Shopping Risk on Price Dispersion”

In it, Zhuang uses a game-theoretic approach to model consumers’ price search and product purchase, and price competition within and across retailer types in both online and offline markets, and solves the puzzle of why price dispersion online is higher than offline.

Light refreshments will be provided.