2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/30339Previous research has directly studied whether on-line retailing is more competitive than conventional retail markets. The evidence from books and music CDs is mixed. Here, I use an indirect approach to compare the competitiveness of on-line with conventional markets. Focusing on the retail market for books, I identify a peculiarity in the pricing of bestsellers relative to other titles. Supposing that competitive barriers are lower in on-line retailing, I analyze how the lower barriers would affect the relative pricing of bestsellers. The empirical data indicates that on-line retailing is more competitive than conventional retailing.11th NEC Research SymposiumOther Computer ScienceK.4.4text