竞争对定价和产品定位的影响外文文献翻译中英文.docx

竞争对定价和产品定位的影响外文文献翻译中英文.docx

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竞争对定价和产品定位的影响外文文献翻译中英文

竞争对定价和产品定位的影响外文文献翻译中英文2019-2020

（节选重点翻译）

英文

Theeffectofcompetitiononpricingandproductpositioning:

Evidencefromwholesaleclubentry

ChristophBauner，EmilyWang

Abstract

Thispaperempiricallyexaminesincumbents’reactionstomarketentryalongpriceandnon-pricedimensionsintheexampleofwholesalewarehouseentryintogroceryretailmarkets.Leveragingadetailedretailpanelspanning2001–2011andanoveldatasetdocumentingopeningandclosingdatesandlocationsofallCostcowarehouseclubs,weclassifyincumbentretailers’strategicresponses（e.g.,pricing,assortment）bythestorabilityofproductcategories,controllingforpersistentsystematicdifferencesacrossretailer–productcombinations.Wefindthatretailersaresubstantiallyaffectedbyincreasedcompetitionfromwholesaleclubwarehouseopeningsandinresponseincreasethevariabilityoftheirprices,consistentwithadoptionoftheHi–Lopricingstrategy.Inaddition,incumbentretailers’strategicresponsesdiffersignificantlyacrossstorabilitylevels:

Theyaremorelikelytoincreasepricesandreduceassortmentsforhighlystorableproductsanddecreasepricesandincreaseassortmentsforlessstorableproducts.Weextendouranalysisbyexploitingthespatialvariationsinourdataandanalyzingdivergentmarketeffectsacrossgeographicalareas.Wefindsignificantgeospatialdifferencesinthesestrategicresponses.

Keywords：

Retailing，Warehouseclubs，Assortment，PriceandNon-priceCompetition，ProductChoice，Differentiation

Traditionalstudiesinindustrialorganizationingeneralandanalysesofmarketentryinparticularfocusonpriceeffects.However,thisisonlypartofthepicture,asproducersnotonlyoptimizeoverpricesbutalsooverproductcharacteristics.Inthispaper,weprovideempiricalevidenceforproductrepositioningbyincumbentfirmsinresponsetomarketentry.Ouranalysisfocusesontheexampleofgrocerystores’responsestoentrybyCostco,theworld’slargestwarehouseclubandthethirdlargestretailerintheUnitedStates.

Thispapercontributestothegrowingliteratureonendogenousproductchoicebydemonstratingthatentrycanleadtosubstantialrepositioningbyincumbentfirms.Morespecifically,wefindthatCostcowarehouseopeningsleadtoadjustmentsalongthedimensionsofassortment,price,andpricingformat（“Everydaylowprice”vs.“Hi–Lo”）inincumbentretailers.Takentogether,themovesbyincumbentsareconsistentwithastrategyofdiversificationfromCostco.

Severalfeaturesofthegroceryretailindustrymakeitparticularlysuitedforstudyingtheeffectofentry.First,grocerystorestypicallycompeteinlocalmarkets.1 Thisallowsustotreatgeographicallydistinctlocationsasindependentmarkets.Second,detaileddataonprices,sales,andassortmentsarewidelyavailablethroughIRIandNielsen.Finally,toourknowledge,notechnologicalorregulatorybarriersdistortincumbents’priceornon-pricereactionstoentry.

Additionally,warehouseclubsareaparticularlyinterestingsegmentoftheretailsector.Theytakethe“bigbox”conceptofWalmartandTargetastepfurtherbysettingauniquebusinessmodel:

productsinverylargepackagesizessoldforverylowprofitmargins;limitedproductvarietywithinagivenproductcategory;2 andmembers-onlyshopping,withmembershipfeesconstitutingthemajorityofstoreprofits（Stone, 2013）.Theyrelyonaconsumerbaseabletotravellongerdistances（asmostwarehouseclubsarelocatedoutsideofcitycenters）,withtransportationconducivetobulkpurchasing（i.e.,biggervehicles）,andwithsufficientincometocovermembershipfees.Howthewarehouseclubspositionthemselvesintheretailsectorhasimportantconsequencesforthestrategicbehaviorofincumbentretailersservingtheresidualdemand.Furthermore,theirstrategiesallowustodistinguishbetweenproductsthataremoreorlessstronglyaffectedbythecompetition,thussharpeningourresults.

Whileendogenousproductchoicehasbeendiscussedtheoreticallyforalmost100years,thereislittleempiricalevidenceoffirmsadjustingtheirproductstoalteredmarketconditions.Toourknowledge, Hotelling （1929）,inhisseminalarticlediscussingthelinearcitymodel,wasthefirsttodiscuss,albeitsomewhatinformally,theoptimalchoiceofproductcharacteristicsinaduopoly.Moreformaltheoreticalexplorationsofthistopichavebeenconductedsincethe1970s,startingwith Spence （1975） influentialexplorationofqualitychoiceinmonopoly.Thiswassoonfollowedupandaddedtoby Spence （1976）, Mussa andRosen （1975）, Maskin andRiley （1984）.Effortstoconductsimilaranalysesindifferentsettingscontinuetoday（see,e.g., Bauner et al.,2017）.

Anumberofauthorshaveincorporatedendogenousproductchoiceinempiricalstudies.Often,suchpapersassumethatfirmssetproductcharacteristicsaccordingtosomestructuralmodelandanalyzethewelfareconsequencesofgovernmentorfirmpoliciesofinterest.Articlesinthisveininclude McManus （2007）, Fan （2013）, Nosko （2010）, Eizenberg （2014）, Wollmann （2014）,and Crawford et al. （2015）.However,fewpaperstodatehaveshownempiricalevidencethatfirmsdo,infact,adjusttheirproductcharacteristicstoreacttochangingmarketconditions. Berry andWaldfogel （2001） and Sweeting （2010） independentlyanalyzetheeffectofconsolidationintheradioindustry.Bothshowsignificantrepositioningofstationformatasresultofincreasedmergeractivity. Matsa （2011） providesevidencethatincumbentretailersimprovetheirqualitywhenfacedwithmarketentrybyWalmart.Weaddtothisliteraturebyprovidingevidenceofrepositioningafterentryinthesupermarketindustryalongseveraldimensions:

pricing,assortment,andpricingformat.

Thispaperisalsorelatedtoresearchontheeffectofbig-boxstoreentry.Walmart’sventureintogroceryretailhasbeenthesubjectofsubstantialresearch,whichhasfounddecreasedpricesoverallinincumbentretailers（e.g., Basker andNoel, 2009）,increasedquality（Matsa, 2011）,increasedconsumersurplus（Hausman andLeibtag, 2007）,andlimitedcompetitionoutsideoflocalmarkets（Ellickson andGrieco, 2012）.Incontrast,littleisknownabouttheimpactofwarehouseclubsonthestrategicbehaviorofincumbentretailersandthereactionsofconsumers.Furthermore,unlikeexistingliterature,whichtypicallyfocusesontheoveralleffectonincumbentretailersusingaggregatepriceindicesorretail-levelresponsessuchasemployment,weexamineindetailvariationsinstrategicbehaviors—pricingandassortment—usingproductspecificinformationacrossproductcategoriesandmarkets.

WeconcentrateouranalysisonCostco.Witha50%marketshareamongwarehouseclubs,CostcoisthelargestretailerofitskindintheUnitedStates（Evans andSatchu, 2010）andtheworld’sthirdlargestretaileroverall（Kantar Retail, 2013）.TomeasureCostco’seffectonincumbentretailers,wetakeadvantageofadetailedretailpaneldocumentingsalesvolumesandpricesforeachUniversalProductCode（UPC）soldineachweekfrom2001–2011for27frequentlypurchasedproductcategoriesandanoveldatasetdocumentingopeningandclosingdatesandlocationsofallCostcowarehouses.Weexploitvariationsacrossmarketsandovertimetoeconometricallycontrolforanysystematicdifferencesacrossretailer–productcombinations.Mostimportantly,thisstrategyeliminatestheeffectofpersistentlocalfactorsthatmightinfluenceCostco’sstrategicdecisiontoenteralocalmarketortheendogenousresponsesofitscompetitors.

Ourfindingssuggestthatincumbentretailers’strategicreactionsinthefaceofincreasedwarehousepresence（measuredbythenumberofCostcowarehousesinthemetroarea）differsignificantlyacrossproductcategories.Weclassifyproductcategoriesobservedinthesamplebyproductstorability（e.g.,cannedsoupishighlystorable;milkisnot）.Ourclassificationofstorabilityderivesfromtwodefinitions:

 perishability and stockpilability,asdefinedby Bronnenberg et al. （2008）.Wefurtherclassifyincumbentretailersaseithersmallorlarge.Underbothdefinitionsandacrosssmallandlargestores,wefindthatincumbentretailersaremorelikelytoincreasethepricesofmorestorableproductswhiledecreasingthepricesoflessstorableproducts.Becausewarehouseclubs’typicallyofferproductsonlyinlargepackages,theyareinmanycaseslessattractiveprovidersofperishablegoods.Hence,thestrategyofdecreasingpricesforlessstorableitemsisconsistentwithanattemptbytraditionalretailerstodifferentiatethemselvesfromwarehouseclubs.

Ourresultsdifferfromtheonlyotherpaperonwarehouseclubsofwhichweareaware, Courtemanche andCarden （2014）,whichfindsthatCostco’sentryleadstopriceincreasesbynon-warehousesupermarkets,whileSam’sClubmarketentrydoesnotaffectlocalprices.Resultsfrom Courtemanche andCarden （2014） runsomewhatcountertothoseofthenumerousstudiesfindingthatWalmartmarketentrydecreasesthepricesofproductssoldbyincumbentretailers（Basker,2005, Volpe,Lavoie,2008, Basker,Noel,2009, Lopez,Liu,2011, Cleary,Lopez, Ellickson,Grieco,2012）.Ourstudyaddssignificantnuanceto Courtemanche andCarden （2014）,whichreliesonquarterly,city-levelACCRACOLIpricesanddoesnotbreakdownbystorabilitylevel.Incontrast,ourUPC–week–store-leveldatagrantusinsightintoincumbents’strategicpricingandassortmentadjustmentsacrossproductcategoriesofdifferentstorabilitylevels.ThisallowsustodrawmoredetailedconclusionsandgainamorecompleteunderstandingofCostco’seffectsoncompetingretailers.

Whilewefindthatpriceresponsesdifferacrossproductcategories,wealsofi