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Online food prices during the COVID‐19 pandemic

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  • Judith Hillen

Abstract

During the coronavirus disease‐2019 pandemic, online grocery shopping experienced a never seen popularity in many countries. To study how the globally active online grocer Amazon Fresh reacted to this extraordinary demand increase, we analyzed a large dataset of daily price quotes for over 19,000 products for the customer location, Los Angeles. We found that contrary to the US consumer food price index, the overall price level at Amazon Fresh did not increase during the pandemic, but even slightly decreased for several product groups. Amazon seems to follow its low‐price strategy also in the grocery sector, even in times of high demand. However, during the lockdown phase, there were more price increases for certain highly demanded product groups such as frozen and prepared foods. Moreover, fewer prices were communicated as promotional prices. Because this change did not influence the general price level, we conclude that such promotional prices are used more as a marketing tool than as a price‐setting instrument.

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  • Judith Hillen, 2021. "Online food prices during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(1), pages 91-107, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:agribz:v:37:y:2021:i:1:p:91-107
    DOI: 10.1002/agr.21673
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sylvain Charlebois & Mark Juhasz & Janet Music, 2021. "Supply Chain Responsiveness to a (Post)-Pandemic Grocery and Food Service E-Commerce Economy: An Exploratory Canadian Case Study," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Witold Chmielarz & Marek Zborowski & Alicja Fandrejewska & Mesut Atasever, 2021. "The Impact of E-Commerce on Globalization Processes: Comparison of Poland and Turkey," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 682-698.
    3. Yajia Liang & Taiyang Zhong & Jonathan Crush, 2022. "Boon or Bane? Urban Food Security and Online Food Purchasing during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Nanjing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-25, June.
    4. Guo, Jianxin & Jin, Songqing & Zhao, Jichun & Wang, Hongbiao & Zhao, Fang, 2022. "Has COVID-19 accelerated the E-commerce of agricultural products? Evidence from sales data of E-stores in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    5. Svetlana Fedoseeva & Ellen Van Droogenbroeck, 2023. "Pandemic pricing: Evidence from German grocery e‐commerce," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1139-1156, October.

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