  In many markets buyers are poorly informed about which firms sell the product
(product availability) and prices, and therefore have to spend time to obtain
this information. In contrast, sellers typically have a better idea about which
rivals offer the product. Information asymmetry between buyers and sellers on
product availability, rather than just prices, has not been scrutinized in the
literature on consumer search. We propose a theoretical model that incorporates
this kind of information asymmetry into a simultaneous search model. Our key
finding is that greater product availability may harm buyers by mitigating
their willingness to search and, thus, softening competition.
