IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v48y2002i6p732-748.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Better Customers Utilize Electronic Distribution Channels? The Case of PC Banking

Author

Listed:
  • Lorin M. Hitt

    (University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104)

  • Frances X. Frei

    (Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Abstract

Many service firms are pursuing electronic distribution strategies to augment existing physical infrastructure for product and service delivery. But little systematic study has been made for whether and how characteristics or behaviors might differ between customers who use electronic delivery systems and those who use traditional channels. We explore these differences by comparing customers who utilize personal-computer-based home banking (PC banking) to other bank customers. Case studies and detailed customer data from four institutions suggest that PC banking customers are apparently more profitable, principally due to unobservable characteristics extant before the adoption of PC banking. Demographic characteristics and changes in customer behavior following adoption of PC banking account for only a small fraction of overall differences. It also appears that retention is marginally higher for customers of the online channel.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorin M. Hitt & Frances X. Frei, 2002. "Do Better Customers Utilize Electronic Distribution Channels? The Case of PC Banking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(6), pages 732-748, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:48:y:2002:i:6:p:732-748
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.48.6.732.188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.48.6.732.188
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.48.6.732.188?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Brynjolfsson & Michael D. Smith, 2000. "Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(4), pages 563-585, April.
    2. Berger, Allen N. & Mester, Loretta J., 1997. "Inside the black box: What explains differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 895-947, July.
    3. Eric K. Clemons & Il-Horn Hann & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Price Dispersion and Differentiation in Online Travel: An Empirical Investigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(4), pages 534-549, April.
    4. J. Yannis Bakos, 1997. "Reducing Buyer Search Costs: Implications for Electronic Marketplaces," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(12), pages 1676-1692, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Edgardo Arturo Ayala Gaytán, 2009. "Social network externalities and price dispersion in online markets," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(2), pages 1-28, November.
    2. Lu, Qiang (Steven) & Yang, Yupin & Yuksel, Ulku, 2015. "The impact of a new online channel: An empirical study," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 136-155.
    3. Zhenlin Yang & Lydia Gan & Fang-Fang Tang, 2007. "A Study of Pricing Evolution in the Online Toy Market," Economic Growth Centre Working Paper Series 0704, Nanyang Technological University, School of Social Sciences, Economic Growth Centre.
    4. Andrea Pozzi, 2012. "Shopping Cost and Brand Exploration in Online Grocery," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 96-120, August.
    5. Dmitri Kuksov, 2004. "Buyer Search Costs and Endogenous Product Design," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 490-499, May.
    6. Xin (Shane) Wang & Feng Mai & Roger H. L. Chiang, 2014. "Database Submission ---Market Dynamics and User-Generated Content About Tablet Computers," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(3), pages 449-458, May.
    7. Eric Overby & Chris Forman, 2011. "The Effect of Electronic Commerce on Geographic Trade and Price Variance in a Business-to-Business Market," Working Papers 11-30, NET Institute.
    8. Ramnath K. Chellappa & Raymond G. Sin & S. Siddarth, 2011. "Price Formats as a Source of Price Dispersion: A Study of Online and Offline Prices in the Domestic U.S. Airline Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 83-98, March.
    9. Gérard P. Cachon & Christian Terwiesch & Yi Xu, 2008. "On the Effects of Consumer Search and Firm Entry in a Multiproduct Competitive Market," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 461-473, 05-06.
    10. Nelson Granados & Alok Gupta & Robert J. Kauffman, 2012. "Online and Offline Demand and Price Elasticities: Evidence from the Air Travel Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 164-181, March.
    11. Nelson Granados & Alok Gupta & Robert J. Kauffman, 2010. "Research Commentary---Information Transparency in Business-to-Consumer Markets: Concepts, Framework, and Research Agenda," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 207-226, June.
    12. Anindya Ghose & Yuliang Yao, 2011. "Using Transaction Prices to Re-Examine Price Dispersion in Electronic Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 269-288, June.
    13. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan & Patrick Scholten, 2006. "Information, Search, and Price Dispersion," Working Papers 2006-11, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    14. Sengupta Anirban & Wiggins Steven N., 2012. "Comparing Price Dispersion on and off the Internet Using Airline Transaction Data," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-38, March.
    15. Robert J. Kauffman & Charles A. Wood, 2007. "Follow the leader: price change timing in Internet-based selling," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(7), pages 679-700.
    16. Nestor Duch-Brown & Bertin Martens, 2014. "Consumer benefits from the EU Digital Single Market: evidence from household appliances markets," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2014-03, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    17. Pereira, Pedro, 2005. "Do lower search costs reduce prices and price dispersion?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 61-72, January.
    18. Wan, Xing & Chen, Jing & Chen, Bintong, 2020. "Exploring service positioning in platform-based markets," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    19. Erik Brynjolfsson & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Mohammad S. Rahman, 2009. "Battle of the Retail Channels: How Product Selection and Geography Drive Cross-Channel Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(11), pages 1755-1765, November.
    20. Rajiv D. Banker & Robert J. Kauffman, 2004. "50th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Research on Information Systems: A Fiftieth-Year Survey of the Literature in Management Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 281-298, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:48:y:2002:i:6:p:732-748. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.