Although the economic success of Amazon Prime has been widely reported in the mass media, few empirical studies have carefully quantified the economic value, consumer welfare impacts, or public policy implications of the subscription program. This study contributes to this economic literature by...

Through private labels, retailers typically provide their customers access to products that are cheaper than national brands. But how large (if any) are the discounts the shoppers receive for private labels relative to national brands in online grocery markets? Using the case of Walmart’s...

One of the increasingly popular user-generated content technologies in e-commerce is the Question and Answer (Q&A). Yet, the effect of Q&A on sales is not well-understood. Using a fixed-effects empirical strategy, we estimate the effect of Q&A on sales ranks, a snapshot of sales widely available...

Using data from a sample of residents targeted to be representative of the United States population and collected in 2019, this study examines whether the proportion of grocery shopping done online can be explained, in part, by household’s demographics and consumer’s beliefs. Thirty-one...

The Climate Pledge is a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. But it is not clear how the initiative is funded. This study investigates whether Amazon, the co-founder of the Climate Pledge, transfers the costs of achieving the commitment to consumers, who typically pay a price...