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The effect of competition on pricing and product positioning: Evidence from wholesale club entry

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  • Bauner, Christoph
  • Wang, Emily

Abstract

This paper empirically examines incumbents’ reactions to market entry along price and non-price dimensions in the example of wholesale warehouse entry into grocery retail markets. Leveraging a detailed retail panel spanning 2001–2011 and a novel dataset documenting opening and closing dates and locations of all Costco warehouse clubs, we classify incumbent retailers’ strategic responses (e.g., pricing, assortment) by the storability of product categories, controlling for persistent systematic differences across retailer–product combinations. We find that retailers are substantially affected by increased competition from wholesale club warehouse openings and in response increase the variability of their prices, consistent with adoption of the Hi–Lo pricing strategy. In addition, incumbent retailers’ strategic responses differ significantly across storability levels: They are more likely to increase prices and reduce assortments for highly storable products and decrease prices and increase assortments for less storable products. We extend our analysis by exploiting the spatial variations in our data and analyzing divergent market effects across geographical areas. We find significant geospatial differences in these strategic responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Bauner, Christoph & Wang, Emily, 2019. "The effect of competition on pricing and product positioning: Evidence from wholesale club entry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:67:y:2019:i:c:s0167718719300475
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2019.102525
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    Cited by:

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    2. Argentesi, Elena & Buccirossi, Paolo & Cervone, Roberto & Duso, Tomaso & Marrazzo, Alessia, 2021. "The effect of mergers on variety in grocery retailing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Zeballos, Eliana & Dong, Xiao & Islamaj, Ergys, 2023. "A Disaggregated View of Market Concentration in the Food Retail Industry," USDA Miscellaneous 333546, United States Department of Agriculture.
    4. Koh, Kanghyok & Jeon, Sungho & Lee, Jinhyuk, 2022. "The effects of price competition on firms' operations and market price: Evidence from a retail gasoline market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. MacDonald, James M. & Dong, Xiao & Fuglie, Keith O., 2023. "Concentration and Competition in U.S. Agribusiness," Economic Information Bulletin 337566, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Bauner, Christoph & Liu, Zexuan, 2022. "Incumbents’ pricing and nonpricing responses to entry in vertically differentiated markets," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    7. Argentesi, Elena & Buccirossi, Paolo & Cervone, Roberto & Duso, Tomaso & Marrazzo, Alessia, 2021. "The effect of mergers on variety in grocery retailing," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 79, pages 1-19.
    8. Woo, Hongjoo & Chung, Angie & Richey, Robert Glenn & Hopkins, Christopher & Lee, Kangbok, 2022. "Product-flyer location and type of product categories in retailing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 146-160.
    9. Radoslav Delina & Renata Olejarova & Petr Doucek, 2023. "Effect of a new potential supplier on business to business negotiations performance: evidence-based analysis," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1941-1970, September.
    10. Lauren Chenarides & Alessandro Bonanno & Anne Palmer, 2021. "If You Build Them… Will it Matter? Food Stores' Presence and Perceived Barriers to Purchasing Healthy Foods in the Northeastern U.S," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 1076-1100, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retailing; Warehouse clubs; Assortment; Price and Non-price Competition; Product Choice; Differentiation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

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