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Sales by multi-product retailers

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  • Timothy J. Richards

    (Morrison School of Agribusiness, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ 85212, USA)

Abstract

This paper examines the rationale underlying periodic price promotions, or sales, for perishable food products by supermarket retailers. Whereas previous studies explain sales in a single-product context as arising from informational, storage cost, or demand heterogeneity, this study focuses on the central role of retailers as multi-product sellers of complementary goods. By offering a larger number of discounted products within a particular category, retailers are able to attract a sufficient number of customers to offset the effect of lower margins on sale items by selling more high-margin items. The implications that emerge from the resulting mixed-strategy equilibrium are tested in a product-level, retail-scanner data set of fresh fruit sales. Hypotheses regarding the rationale and effectiveness of sales are tested by estimating econometric models that describe (1) the number of sales items per store, (2) the depth of a given sale, and (3) promotion effectiveness on store-level demand. The results of this econometric analysis support the hypothesis that the breadth and depth of price promotions are complementary marketing tools, thus explaining how EDLP and HI-LO store formats can exist in the same monopolistically competitive market equilibrium. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy J. Richards, 2006. "Sales by multi-product retailers," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 261-277.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:27:y:2006:i:4:p:261-277
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.1251
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    Cited by:

    1. Glauben, Thomas & Hansen, Kristin & Loy, Jens-Peter & Weiss, Christoph R., 2011. "Breadth and depth of promotional sales in food retailing," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 145-149.
    2. Delajara Marcelo & Murillo Garza José Antonio, 2012. "Weekday with Low Prices: Evidence on Daily Seasonality of Foods, Beverages and Tobacco Prices," Working Papers 2012-09, Banco de México.
    3. Hoffman, Angela & Senkler, Heike, 2011. "Interformat price competition of multi-product retailers: Evidence for German grocery retailing," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114533, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Loy, Jens-Peter & Ren, Yanjun, 2022. "Web scraping of food retail prices: An analysis of internet food retail sales prices," EconStor Conference Papers 251552, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    5. Ebbing, Alexandra, 2012. "Verkaufsförderung Im Lebensmitteleinzelhandel: Empirische Analyse Im Raum Giessen," 52nd Annual Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, September 26-28, 2012 137145, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    6. Carlo Russo & Rachael Goodhue, 2018. "Farmgate prices, retail prices, and supermarkets' pricing decisions: An integrated approach," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 24-43, December.
    7. Lan, Hao & Lloyd, Tim A. & Morgan, C. Wyn, 2013. "The hazard function of sales: An analysis of UK supermarket food prices," 87th Annual Conference, April 8-10, 2013, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 151972, Agricultural Economics Society.
    8. Hansen, Kristin & Loy, Jens-Peter, 2007. "Multiproduct Food Retail Sales: A Case Study for Germany," 2007 1st Forum, February 15-17, 2007, Innsbruck, Austria 6568, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.
    9. Mikkonen, Karri & Niskanen, Hanna & Pynnönen, Mikko & Hallikas, Jukka, 2015. "The presence of emotional factors: An empirical exploration of bundle purchasing process," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 642-657.
    10. Hoffmann, A. & Loy, J.-P., 2010. "Sonderangebote und Preissynchronisation im deutschen Lebensmitteleinzelhandel," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 45, March.
    11. Castellari, Elena & Moro, Daniele & Platoni, Silvia & Sckokai, Paolo, 2018. "Retailers’ strategies and food price dynamics: Evidence from dairy scanner data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 212-224.
    12. Sebnem Bahadir-Lust & Jens-Peter Loy & Christoph R. Weiss, 2007. "Are they always offering the lowest price? An empirical analysis of the persistence of price dispersion in a low inflation environment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(7), pages 777-788.
    13. Jens-Peter Loy & Christoph R. Weiss, 2009. "Sales by multi-product retailers: a comment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(8), pages 513-515.
    14. Olbrich, Rainer & Grewe, Gundula, 2013. "Proliferation of private labels in the groceries sector: The impact on category performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 147-153.

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