Patterns of diffusion of electronic commerce in retail industries: theory and evidence

This paper puts into perspective the early patterns of retailers' adoption of e-commerce across product categories and firm types. The focus is on understanding how consumer loyalty, differences in firms' technology and consumers' preferences across the traditional versus the virtual market, and expansion in market size made possible by the Internet affected the timing and sequence of adoption by firms, as well as the post-adoption evolution of prices. The empirical evidence on adoption patterns is discussed in the light of the predictions from a model of technology adoption.