Electronic commerce of cultural goods: empirical contributions.

Summary This thesis is presented in the form of a 134-page volume composed of 5 research articles. The thesis is an empirical contribution to the literature that has developed since the early 2000s on the upheavals introduced by the Internet on the trade of cultural goods. In particular, it examines a set of questions concerning the complementarity or substitution of physical and virtual distribution channels, the "Long Tail" effect and the dispersion of prices on the Internet. The interest of the thesis is to bring empirical evidence to these debates, thanks in particular to the creation of databases obtained by automated capture of observable data on the Internet. The statistical and econometric results of this work detail the specificities of the best-selling books, CDs and DVDs according to the distribution channels (Amazon, Amazon Marketplace, physical stores) but also according to their format (paper books/digital books). On the other hand, the results show a low variability of prices by Amazon Marketplace sellers as well as a low impact of traditional measures of reputation (seller ratings) compared to the size of the sellers' catalogs, questioning the use of ratings as a proxy for reputation.