Examining Comparative Shopping Agents from Two Types of Search Results

When searching for products and information using search engines, Web consumers often see comparative shopping agents (CSAs) in search results. CSAs list companies that sell desired products and the prices they offer on one page, greatly reducing search costs. Using 168 digital camera models from seven major camera makers, we examine CSAs between organic and paid search results in terms of the number of CSAs, number of vendors, lowest and average prices, and price dispersion.