How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet

When a multichannel retailer opens its first retail store in a state, the firm is obligated to collect sales taxes on all Internet and catalog orders shipped to that state. This article assesses how opening a store affects Internet and catalog demand. The authors analyze purchase behavior among cust...

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Main Authors: Anderson, Eric T., Fong, Nathan Minsheng, Simester, Duncan, Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth
מחברים אחרים: Sloan School of Management
פורמט: Article
שפה:en_US
יצא לאור: American Marketing Association 2011
גישה מקוונת:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67872
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2758-0116
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1847-4832
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author Anderson, Eric T.
Fong, Nathan Minsheng
Simester, Duncan
Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth
author2 Sloan School of Management
author_facet Sloan School of Management
Anderson, Eric T.
Fong, Nathan Minsheng
Simester, Duncan
Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth
author_sort Anderson, Eric T.
collection MIT
description When a multichannel retailer opens its first retail store in a state, the firm is obligated to collect sales taxes on all Internet and catalog orders shipped to that state. This article assesses how opening a store affects Internet and catalog demand. The authors analyze purchase behavior among customers who live far from the retail store but must now pay sales taxes on catalog and Internet purchases. A comparable group of customers in a neighboring state serves as a control. The results show that Internet sales decrease significantly, but catalog sales are unaffected. Further investigation indicates that the difference in these outcomes is partly attributable to the ease with which customers can search for lower prices at competing retailers. The authors extend the analysis to a panel of multichannel firms and show that retailers that earn a large proportion of their revenue from direct channels avoid opening a first store in high-tax states. They conclude that current U.S. sales taxes laws have significant effects on both customer and firm behavior.
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spelling mit-1721.1/678722022-09-26T12:49:16Z How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet Anderson, Eric T. Fong, Nathan Minsheng Simester, Duncan Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth Sloan School of Management Tucker, Catherine Fong, Nathan Minsheng Simester, Duncan Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth When a multichannel retailer opens its first retail store in a state, the firm is obligated to collect sales taxes on all Internet and catalog orders shipped to that state. This article assesses how opening a store affects Internet and catalog demand. The authors analyze purchase behavior among customers who live far from the retail store but must now pay sales taxes on catalog and Internet purchases. A comparable group of customers in a neighboring state serves as a control. The results show that Internet sales decrease significantly, but catalog sales are unaffected. Further investigation indicates that the difference in these outcomes is partly attributable to the ease with which customers can search for lower prices at competing retailers. The authors extend the analysis to a panel of multichannel firms and show that retailers that earn a large proportion of their revenue from direct channels avoid opening a first store in high-tax states. They conclude that current U.S. sales taxes laws have significant effects on both customer and firm behavior. 2011-12-22T14:33:12Z 2011-12-22T14:33:12Z 2010-04 2009-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0022-2437 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67872 Anderson, Eric T. et al. “How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet.” Journal of Marketing Research 47.2 (2010): 229-239. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2758-0116 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1847-4832 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.47.2.229 Journal of Marketing Research Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf American Marketing Association Prof, Tucker via Alex Caracuzzo
spellingShingle Anderson, Eric T.
Fong, Nathan Minsheng
Simester, Duncan
Tucker, Catherine Elizabeth
How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet
title How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet
title_full How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet
title_fullStr How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet
title_full_unstemmed How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet
title_short How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet
title_sort how sales taxes affect customer and firm behavior the role of search on the internet
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67872
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2758-0116
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1847-4832
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