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The Competitive Effects of Entry: Evidence from Supercenter Expansion

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Arcidiacono
  • Paul B. Ellickson
  • Carl F. Mela
  • John D. Singleton

Abstract

Coupling weekly grocery transactions with the exact location and opening date of Walmarts over an 11-year period, we examine how Supercenter entry affects prices and revenues at incumbent supermarkets. We find that entry within 1 mile of an incumbent causes a sharp 16 percent drop in revenue, a competitive effect that decays quickly with distance. Surprisingly, despite large cross-sectional differences in supermarket prices by exposure to Walmart, our findings also indicate that Supercenter entry has no causal effect on incumbent prices. This result is robust across many dimensions, including a lack of price response for individual products, and across brands within a category.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Arcidiacono & Paul B. Ellickson & Carl F. Mela & John D. Singleton, 2020. "The Competitive Effects of Entry: Evidence from Supercenter Expansion," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 175-206, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:175-206
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20180047
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    Cited by:

    1. Juan Pablo Atal & José Ignacio Cuesta & Felipe González & Cristóbal Otero, 2024. "The Economics of the Public Option: Evidence from Local Pharmaceutical Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(3), pages 615-644, March.
    2. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Oana Mihaescu & Niklas Rudholm, 2022. "The Decline of Small Cities: Increased Competition from External Shopping Malls or Long-Term Negative Trends?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 45(2), pages 225-257, March.
    3. Dong, Xiao, 2023. "Does seasonal product rotation contribute to countercyclical pricing and cheaper turkeys during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Joel Cuffey & Timothy K. M. Beatty, 2022. "Effects of competing food desert policies on store format choice among SNAP participants," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1485-1511, August.
    6. Cuffey, Joel & Li, Wenying & Yu, Yang & Miao, Ruiqing, 2023. "Retail food environment and household food waste: An empirical study," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    7. Zeballos, Eliana & Dong, Xiao & Islamaj, Ergys, 2023. "A Disaggregated View of Market Concentration in the Food Retail Industry," USDA Miscellaneous 333546, United States Department of Agriculture.
    8. Günter J. Hitsch & Ali Hortaçsu & Xiliang Lin, 2021. "Prices and promotions in U.S. retail markets," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 289-368, December.
    9. Günter J. Hitsch & Ali Hortaçsu & Xiliang Lin, 2019. "Prices and Promotions in U.S. Retail Markets: Evidence from Big Data," NBER Working Papers 26306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Mihaescu, Oana & Korpi, Martin & Öner, Özge, 2020. "Are New Shopping Centers Drivers of Development in Large Metropolitan Suburbs? The Interplay of Agglomeration and Competition Forces," Ratio Working Papers 332, The Ratio Institute.
    11. Steinbach, Sandro, 2023. "The Corporatization of Veterinary Medicine: An Empirical Analysis of Its Impact on Independent Practices," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335481, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Azar, José & Barriola, Xabier, 2022. "Did the MillerCoors joint venture strengthen the craft beer revolution?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    13. MacDonald, James M. & Dong, Xiao & Fuglie, Keith O., 2023. "Concentration and Competition in U.S. Agribusiness," Economic Information Bulletin 337566, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    14. Lindgren, Charlie & Li, Yujiao & Rudholm, Niklas, 2020. "Why do firms compete on price comparison websites? The impact on productivity, profits, and wages," HFI Working Papers 14, Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut).
    15. Schiff, Nathan & Cosman, Jacob & Dai, Tianran, 2023. "Delivery in the city: Differentiated products competition among New York restaurants," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. Argentesi, Elena & Buccirossi, Paolo & Cervone, Roberto & Duso, Tomaso & Marrazzo, Alessia, 2021. "The effect of mergers on variety in grocery retailing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Fr d ric Kluser, Tobias Seidel, Maximilian v. Ehrlich, 2022. "Spatial frictions in consumption and retail competition," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper40, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    18. Rebecca Cleary & Lauren Chenarides, 2022. "Food retail profits, competition, and the Great Recession," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(3), pages 557-578, July.
    19. Doug J. Chung & Kyoungwon Seo & Reo Song, 2023. "Efficient computation of discrete games: Estimating the effect of Apple on market structure," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(7), pages 2245-2263, July.
    20. Antoniades, Alexis & Clerides, Sofronis & Xu, Mingzhi, 2023. "Multi-product firm price and variety response to firm-specific cost shocks," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    21. Koh, Kanghyok & Jeon, Sungho & Lee, Jinhyuk, 2022. "The effects of price competition on firms' operations and market price: Evidence from a retail gasoline market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis

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