IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/randje/v55y2024i1p55-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

One size fits all? The value of standardized retail chains

Author

Listed:
  • Ben Klopack

Abstract

Multi‐outlet firms, or chains, account for most US retail spending. This article quantifies the welfare and profit effects of standardized chains in the restaurant industry: chains face higher demand than independents, but are less flexible in customizing product selection or prices across locations. I find that on average chains could earn 19% higher variable profits if they could customize their product optimally, but they would lose 28% of their variable profits if they were to lose their demand advantages. Local policies that ban chains would decrease consumer welfare by 1.5% to 5.4% of restaurant spending and disproportionately impact lower income consumers.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Klopack, 2024. "One size fits all? The value of standardized retail chains," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 55(1), pages 55-86, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:randje:v:55:y:2024:i:1:p:55-86
    DOI: 10.1111/1756-2171.12458
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-2171.12458
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1756-2171.12458?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:randje:v:55:y:2024:i:1:p:55-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/randdus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.