IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/revage/v30y2008i1p4-26..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Grocery Prices in New England

Author

Listed:
  • Richard J. Volpe III
  • Nathalie Lavoie

Abstract

The competitive price effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on national brand and private label grocery prices in New England is examined. We use primary price data collected on several identical products from six Supercenters in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island and from conventional supermarkets. Taking into account demographics, store characteristics, and market conditions, we show that Wal-Mart decreases prices by 6 to 7% for national brand goods and by 3 to 8% for private label goods. Price decreases are most significant in the dry grocery and dairy departments. Moreover, Wal-Mart sets grocery prices significantly lower than its competitors.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard J. Volpe III & Nathalie Lavoie, 2008. "The Effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Grocery Prices in New England," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(1), pages 4-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:revage:v:30:y:2008:i:1:p:4-26.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-9353.2007.00389.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bergès-Sennou Fabian & Bontems Philippe & Réquillart Vincent, 2004. "Economics of Private Labels: A Survey of Literature," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-25, February.
    2. Richard J. Volpe & Nathalie Lavoie, 2008. "The Effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Grocery Prices in New England," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 30(1), pages 4-26.
    3. Cotterill, Ronald W., 1999. "An Antitrust Economic Analysis of the Proposed Acquisition of Supermarkets General Holdings Corporation be Ahold Acquisition Inc," Research Reports 25219, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    4. Khanna, Naveen & Tice, Sheri, 2000. "Strategic Responses of Incumbents to New Entry: The Effect of Ownership Structure, Capital Structure, and Focus," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 749-779.
    5. Volpe, Richard J., III & Lavoie, Nathalie, 2005. "The Effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Grocery Prices in New England," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19188, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Woo, Byung-Joon & Huang, Chung L. & Epperson, James E. & Cude, Brenda J., 2001. "Effect Of A New Wal-Mart Supercenter On Local Retail Food Prices," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 32(1), pages 1-9, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rebecca Cleary & Jean-Paul Chavas, 2022. "Strategic supermarket pricing of private labels and manufacturer brands," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(6), pages 2921-2950, June.
    2. Bonanno, Alessandro & Ghosh, Gaurav S., 2010. "SNAP Efficacy and Food Access – A Nationwide Spatial Analysis," 115th Joint EAAE/AAEA Seminar, September 15-17, 2010, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany 116437, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Angela D. Liese & Xiaonan Ma & Brent Hutto & Patricia A. Sharpe & Bethany A. Bell & Sara Wilcox, 2017. "Food Shopping and Acquisition Behaviors in Relation to BMI among Residents of Low-Income Communities in South Carolina," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, September.
    4. Hovhannisyan, Vardges & Stiegert, Kyle W., 2011. "Imperfect Competition between Milk Manufacturers and Retailers in a Midwestern State in the U.S," 2011 Annual Meeting, February 5-8, 2011, Corpus Christi, Texas 98844, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    5. Richard Volpe & Edward C Jaenicke & Lauren Chenarides, 2018. "Store Formats, Market Structure, and Consumers’ Food Shopping Decisions," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(4), pages 672-694, December.
    6. Rebecca Cleary & Rigoberto Lopez, 2014. "Supermarket responses to Wal-Mart Supercenter expansion: a structural approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 905-925, November.
    7. Meilin Ma & Tina L Saitone & Richard J Volpe & Richard J Sexton & Michelle Saksena & Craig GundersenEditor, 2019. "Market Concentration, Market Shares, and Retail Food Prices: Evidence from the U.S. Women, Infants, and Children Program," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 542-562.
    8. Tina L. Saitone & Richard J. Sexton, 2017. "Agri-food supply chain: evolution and performance with conflicting consumer and societal demands," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 44(4), pages 634-657.
    9. Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Barker, Catherine & Dutko, Paula, 2010. "How Much Lower Are Prices at Discount Stores? An Examination of Retail Food Prices," Economic Research Report 96767, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    10. Volpe, Richard J., III, 2011. "Evaluating the Performance of U.S. Supermarkets: Pricing Strategies, Competition from Hypermarkets, and Private Labels," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Secor, William & Çakır, Metin, 2016. "Impacts from a retail grocery acquisition: Do national and store brand prices respond differently?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235945, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Bonanno, Alessandro, 2008. "An Empirical Investigation of Wal-Mart’s Expansion into Food Retailing," Research Reports 149931, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    13. Volpe, Richard & Kuhns, Annemarie & Jaenicke, Ted, 2017. "Store Formats and Patterns in Household Grocery Purchases," Economic Information Bulletin 256712, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    14. P. J. Glandon & Matthew Jaremski, 2014. "Sales and Firm Entry: The Case of Wal‐Mart," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(1), pages 168-192, July.
    15. Todd, Jessica E. & Mancino, Lisa & Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Tripodo, Christina, 2010. "Methodology Behind Quarterly Food- at- Home Price Database," Technical Bulletins 184309, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    16. Alessandro Bonanno, 2010. "An empirical investigation of Wal-Mart's expansion into food retailing," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 220-242.
    17. Richard Volpe, 2014. "Supercenters, Unionized Labor, and Performance in Food Retail," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 325-355, April.
    18. Tiehen, Laura & Frazão, Elizabeth, 2016. "Where Do WIC Participants Redeem Their Food Benefits? An Analysis of WIC Food Dollar Redemption Patterns by Store Type," Economic Information Bulletin 262145, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    19. Todd, Jessica E. & Mancino, Lisa & Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Tripodo, Christina, 2010. "Methodology Behind the Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database," Technical Bulletins 97799, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    20. Wang, Shinn-Shyr & Rojas, Christian & Lavoie, Nathalie, 2010. "Buyer Market Power and Vertically Differentiated Retailers," Working Paper Series 57165, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Resource Economics.
    21. 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).
    22. Rojas Christian & Lavoie Nathalie & Wang Shinn-Shyr, 2012. "Buyer Power and Vertically Differentiated Retailers," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-28, July.
    23. Volpe, Richard, 2011. "The Relationship Between National Brand and Private Label Food Products: Prices, Promotions, Recessions, and Recoveries," Economic Research Report 262234, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    24. Alessandro Bonanno & Stephan J. Goetz, 2012. "WalMart and Local Economic Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 26(4), pages 285-297, November.
    25. Bonanno, Alessandro & Li, Jing, 2011. "Food Access and Food Security – An Empirical Analysis," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103218, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Volpe, Richard J., III & Lavoie, Nathalie, 2006. "The Effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Grocery Prices in New England," Working Paper Series 14515, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Resource Economics.
    2. Volpe, Richard J., III, 2011. "Evaluating the Performance of U.S. Supermarkets: Pricing Strategies, Competition from Hypermarkets, and Private Labels," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Richard Volpe, 2014. "Supercenters, Unionized Labor, and Performance in Food Retail," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 325-355, April.
    4. Volpe, Richard J., III & Lavoie, Nathalie, 2005. "The Effect of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Grocery Prices in New England," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19188, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Volpe, Richard, 2011. "The Relationship Between National Brand and Private Label Food Products: Prices, Promotions, Recessions, and Recoveries," Economic Research Report 262234, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Barker, Catherine & Dutko, Paula, 2010. "How Much Lower Are Prices at Discount Stores? An Examination of Retail Food Prices," Economic Research Report 96767, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Martens, Bobby J. & Dooley, Frank J. & Florax, Raymond J.G.M., 2010. "A Spatial Analysis of the Effect of Entry by Supercenter and Warehouse Club Retailers on Grocery Sales," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 41(2), pages 1-12, July.
    8. Rebecca Cleary & Jean-Paul Chavas, 2022. "Strategic supermarket pricing of private labels and manufacturer brands," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(6), pages 2921-2950, June.
    9. Bonanno, Alessandro, 2008. "An Empirical Investigation of Wal-Mart’s Expansion into Food Retailing," Research Reports 149931, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    10. Rebecca Cleary & Rigoberto Lopez, 2014. "Supermarket responses to Wal-Mart Supercenter expansion: a structural approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 905-925, November.
    11. Alessandro Bonanno, 2010. "An empirical investigation of Wal-Mart's expansion into food retailing," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 220-242.
    12. Alessandro Bonanno & Stephan J. Goetz, 2012. "WalMart and Local Economic Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 26(4), pages 285-297, November.
    13. Alessandro Bonanno & Rigoberto A. Lopez, 2008. "Wal-Mart’s Monopsony Power in Local Labor Markets," Food Marketing Policy Center Research Reports 103, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    14. Volpe III, Rickard James, 2014. "National Brands, Private Labels, and Food Price Inflation," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1-16, November.
    15. Aron A. Gottesman, 2004. "The Strategic use of Convertible Debt in “Deep Pocket†Predatory Games," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 48(1), pages 50-60, March.
    16. Richard Volpe & Edward C Jaenicke & Lauren Chenarides, 2018. "Store Formats, Market Structure, and Consumers’ Food Shopping Decisions," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(4), pages 672-694, December.
    17. Irz, Xavier & Mazzocchi, Mario & Réquillart, Vincent & Soler, Louis-Georges, 2015. "Research in Food Economics: past trends and new challenges," Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, Editions NecPlus, vol. 96(01), pages 187-237, March.
    18. Charles Courtemanche & Art Carden, 2014. "Competing with Costco and Sam's Club: Warehouse Club Entry and Grocery Prices," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(3), pages 565-585, January.
    19. Natasha Agarwal & Chris Milner & Alejandro Riaño, 2011. "Credit Constraints and FDI Spillovers in China," Discussion Papers 11/21, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    20. Minten, Bart & Singh, K.M. & Sutradhar, Rajib, 2011. "Branding in food retail of high value crops in Asia: Case of Makhana from Bihar (India)," MPRA Paper 54334, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 31 Jan 2011.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:revage:v:30:y:2008:i:1:p:4-26.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press or Christopher F. Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.