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Price setting in a leading Swiss online supermarket

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  • Berka, Martin
  • Devereux, Michael B.
  • Rudolph, Thomas

Abstract

We study a newly released data set of scanner prices for food products in a large Swiss online supermarket. We find that average prices change about every two months, but when we exclude temporary sales, prices are extremely sticky, changing on average once every three years. Non-sale price behavior is broadly consistent with menu cost models of sticky prices. When we focus specifically on the behavior of sale prices, however, we find that the characteristics of price adjustment seems to be substantially at odds with standard theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Berka, Martin & Devereux, Michael B. & Rudolph, Thomas, 2011. "Price setting in a leading Swiss online supermarket," Working Paper Series 18597, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:18597
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    File URL: https://ir.wgtn.ac.nz/handle/123456789/18597
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chakraborty, Ratula & Dobson, Paul W. & Seaton, Jonathan S. & Waterson, Michael, 2015. "Pricing in inflationary times: The penny drops," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 71-86.
    2. Katja Kalkschmied & Joern Kleinert, 2024. "Market building by strategic interactions: The role of powerful private actors and the state," Graz Economics Papers 2024-12, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    3. Fedoseeva, Svetlana & Grein, Theresa & Herrmann, Roland, 2017. "How German Online Retailers Price Foods: An Empirical Analysis for Chocolate Products," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, January.
    4. Fedoseeva, Svetlana & Herrmann, Roland & Nickolaus, Katharina, 2017. "Was the economics of information approach wrong all the way? Evidence from German grocery r(E)tailing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 63-72.
    5. Holzer, Patrick Sebastian, 2020. "The effect of time-varying factors on promotional activity in the German milk market," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    6. Lloyd, T.A. & McCorriston, S. & Morgan, C.W. & Poen, E. & Zgovu, E., 2014. "Retail price dynamics and retailer heterogeneity: UK evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 434-438.
    7. Juan M. C. Larrosa & Victoria Giordano & Gonzalo R. Ramírez Muñoz de Toro & Juan I. Uriarte, 2022. "Marketing attributes in yogurt weekly pricing in Argentina," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 332-343, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    online supermarket; price behavior; sticky price;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles

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