It isn t that tacit collusion is the only reason that prices online haven t been as low as expected. For instance, each online electronic store on MySimon offers varying options for shipping, financing, and warranties. Levels of customer service, online security, and convenience are all across the board. By bundling in different levels of service and unique options, companies can make it hard to compare one similar product with another. Similarly, online retailers often will differentiate themselves from each other by carrying different models than their competitors.
Price comparison is meaningless.
Still, it is becoming clear that online companies are tacitly colluding and that, as a result, they are behaving more rationally than was initially projected. They have stopped well short of beating each other s brains out and will restrain themselves in the future, too. That may be bad news for consumers, who had been led to believe that they would have the upper hand in their dealings with manufacturers for the foreseeable future.