Changement d’enseigne sur le marché français des carburants : effets sur la concurrence locale d’une baisse des prix

Between 2011 and 2014, an oil company has developped a discount strategy by creating a new brand from its network of gas stations and a price decrease of 10 euro cents per liter. Using weekly diesel prices of thousands of retailers and a difference-in-differences method, we highlight a weakness of the aggregated response of prices, less than one euro cent, from close competitors. It conceals the increases and decreases in equivalent proportions for the 40% of the stations that react over one cent. The decreases are mainly implemented by the retail stations of supermarkets, whereas the stations of oil groups and independent companies are responsible for the increases. These reactions highlight the important market segmentation, beyond the apparent homogeneity of the product. Classification JEL : C20, C55, L81.