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Decision Stages and Asymmetries in Regular Retail Price Pass-Through

Author

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  • Blakeley B. McShane

    (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

  • Chaoqun Chen

    (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

  • Eric T. Anderson

    (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

  • Duncan I. Simester

    (Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142)

Abstract

We study the pass-through of wholesale price changes onto regular retail prices using an unusually detailed data set obtained from a major retailer. We model pass-through as a two-stage decision process that reflects both whether as well as how much to change the regular retail price. We show that pass-through is strongly asymmetric with respect to wholesale price increases versus decreases. Wholesale price increases are passed through to regular retail prices 70% of the time while wholesale price decreases are passed through only 9% of the time. Pass-through is also asymmetric with respect to the magnitude of the wholesale price change, with the magnitude affecting the response to wholesale price increases but not decreases. Finally, we show that covariates such as private label versus national brand, 99-cent price endings, and the time since the last wholesale price change have a much stronger impact on the first stage of the decision process (i.e., whether to change the regular retail price) than on the second stage (i.e., how much to change the regular retail price).Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2015.0947 .

Suggested Citation

  • Blakeley B. McShane & Chaoqun Chen & Eric T. Anderson & Duncan I. Simester, 2016. "Decision Stages and Asymmetries in Regular Retail Price Pass-Through," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(4), pages 619-639, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:35:y:2016:i:4:p:619-639
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2015.0947
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Anderson, Eric & Malin, Benjamin A. & Nakamura, Emi & Simester, Duncan & Steinsson, Jón, 2017. "Informational rigidities and the stickiness of temporary Sales," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 64-83.
    3. Christopher Hansman & Harrison Hong & Áureo de Paula & Vishal Singh, 2020. "A Sticky-Price View of Hoarding," NBER Working Papers 27051, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Eric Anderson & Sergio Rebelo & Arlene Wong, 2020. "Markups Across Space and Time," Working Papers 2020-6, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    5. Snir, Avichai & Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Levy, Daniel, 2022. "Zero-Ending Prices, Cognitive Convenience, and Price Rigidity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 203, pages 519-542.
    6. Ater, Itai & Gerlitz, Omri, 2017. "Round prices and price rigidity: Evidence from outlawing odd prices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 188-203.
    7. Levy, Daniel & Snir, Avichai & Gotler, Alex & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2020. "Not all price endings are created equal: Price points and asymmetric price rigidity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue forthcomi.
    8. Lu, Huidi & van der Lans, Ralf & Helsen, Kristiaan & Gauri, Dinesh K., 2023. "DEPART: Decomposing prices using atheoretical regression trees," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 781-800.
    9. 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.
    10. Honggang Hu & Quan Zheng & Xiajun Amy Pan, 2022. "Agency or Wholesale? The Role of Retail Pass-Through," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7538-7554, October.
    11. Øyvind Thomassen & Howard Smith & Stephan Seiler & Pasquale Schiraldi, 2017. "Multi-category Competition and Market Power: A Model of Supermarket Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(8), pages 2308-2351, August.
    12. Brett Hollenbeck & Kosuke Uetake, 2021. "Taxation and market power in the legal marijuana industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(3), pages 559-595, September.
    13. Metin Çakır, 2022. "Retail pass‐through of package downsizing," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 259-278, April.
    14. Draganska, Michaela & Vitorino, Maria Ana, 2023. "Decomposing the effect of advertising: What happens in the retail channel?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 226-247.
    15. Deltas, George & Polemis, Michael, 2020. "Estimating retail gasoline price dynamics: The effects of sample characteristics and research design," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    16. Ioannis Stamatopoulos & Achal Bassamboo & Antonio Moreno, 2021. "The Effects of Menu Costs on Retail Performance: Evidence from Adoption of the Electronic Shelf Label Technology," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 242-256, January.
    17. Diego Aparicio & Duncan Simester, 2022. "Price Frictions and the Success of New Products," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(6), pages 1057-1073, November.

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