The efficiency of a compressible, packed chromatographic bed has been characterized experimentally and by computer simulations. The experimental measurements were performed in situ by monitoring the propagation of a tracer using three sets of concentrically located electrodes. The results obtained were compared with results obtained for the same column packed with rigid, non-porous glass beads. Both columns featured a core, characterized by a flat velocity profile and a nearly constant hydrodynamic dispersion. The velocity variations, as well as hydrodynamic dispersion anomalies, in the wall region were found to be smaller in the compressed bed than in the column packed with rigid glass beads. The hydrodynamic dispersion in the compressed column was found to be approximately twice that expected for a column packed with rigid particles under the same conditions. The computed velocity variations in the compressible bed were found to agree qualitatively with experimental data.