Search Affordances and Constraints of Mobile Channel in e-Marketplace: An Empirical Investigation on Sales Distribution

In this study, we investigate how the mobile channel adoption by e-market users affects their search intensity and the shape of their aggregated sales distribution in the e-marketplace. Our analysis results based on the large dataset obtained from a leading e-marketplace in Korea show that the mobile channel adoption encourages search activities in the e-marketplace, but decreases the chance of purchasing tail products overall. This is contrary to the previous belief that more search activities by e-market users lead to the increase in market shares of tail products. Specifically, the display rank of orders made by e-market users is lowered by their adoption of the mobile channel, suggesting more alternatives are considered to make the order by the adoption. The share of head products in their aggregated sales distribution, however, is increased by the adoption. We have also found inconsistent patterns of the adoption effect across product categories. For search goods such as PC, phone, camera, and digital appliances, mobile channel adoption intensifies search activities but results in more head product sales, whereas, for convenience goods such as home supplies and processed foods, the adoption discourages search activities and purchasing of tail products. Lastly, in the case of preference goods such as toys, clothing, and fashion items, the adoption intensifies search activities and causes more tail product sales. We discuss our results and provide future directions of the study.