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The Evolving Food Chain: Competitive Effects of Wal-Mart's Entry Into The Supermarket Industry

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  • Noel, Michael
  • Basker, Emek

Abstract

We analyze the effect of Wal-Mart's entry into the grocery market using a unique stor-level price panel data set. We use OLS and two IV specifications to estimate the effect of Wal-Mart's entry on competitors' prices of 24 grocery items across several categories. Wal-Mart's price advantage over competitors for these products averages approximately 10%. On average, competitors' response to Wal-Mart's entry is a price reduction of 1-1.2%, mostly due to smaller-scale competitors: the response of the "big three" supermarket chains (Alberson's, Safeway, and Kroger) is less than half that size. We confirm our results using a falsification exercises, in which we test for Wal-Mart's effect on prices of services that it does not provide, such as movie tickets and dry cleaning services.

Suggested Citation

  • Noel, Michael & Basker, Emek, 2007. "The Evolving Food Chain: Competitive Effects of Wal-Mart's Entry Into The Supermarket Industry," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt4nq8d4sm, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt4nq8d4sm
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    Cited by:

    1. Bonanno, Alessandro & Lopez, Rigoberto, 2008. "Wal-Mart’s Monopsony Power in Local Labor Markets," Research Reports 149210, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    2. Charles Courtemanche & Art Carden, 2014. "Competing with Costco and Sam's Club: Warehouse Club Entry and Grocery Prices," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(3), pages 565-585, January.
    3. Emek Basker & Shawn Klimek & Pham Hoang Van, 2008. "Supersize It: The Growth of Retail Chains and the Rise of the "Big Box" Retail Format," Working Papers 0809, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, revised 30 Sep 2010.
    4. Andreas Widenhorn & Klaus Salhofer, 2014. "Price Sensitivity Within and Across Retail Formats," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 184-194, March.
    5. Rebecca L. O. Cleary & Rigoberto A. Lopez, 2007. "Is Wal-Mart Good for Competition? Evidence from Milk Prices," Food Marketing Policy Center Research Reports 101, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    6. Bonanno, Alessandro & Lopez, Rigoberto A., 2009. "Is Wal-Mart a Monopsony? Evidence from Local Labor Markets," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51289, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Courtemanche, Charles & Carden, Art, 2011. "Supersizing supercenters? The impact of Walmart Supercenters on body mass index and obesity," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 165-181, March.
    8. Martens, Bobby J. & Dooley, Frank J. & Florax, Raymond J.G.M., 2010. "A Spatial Analysis of the Effect of Entry by Supercenter and Warehouse Club Retailers on Grocery Sales," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 41(2), pages 1-12, July.
    9. Naohito Abe & Daiji Kawaguchi, 2010. "Incumbent's Price Response to New Entry: The Case of Japanese Supermarkets," NBER Chapters, in: Sticky Prices and Inflation Dynamics (NBER-TCER-CEPR), pages 196-212, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Leibtag, Ephraim S. & Barker, Catherine & Dutko, Paula, 2010. "How Much Lower Are Prices at Discount Stores? An Examination of Retail Food Prices," Economic Research Report 96767, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Emek Basker, 2011. "Does Wal‐Mart Sell Inferior Goods?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 973-981, October.
    12. Courtemanche, Charles & Carden, Art, 2009. "The skinny on big box retailing: Wal-Mart, warehouse clubs, and obesity," MPRA Paper 25326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Bonanno, Alessandro, 2008. "An Empirical Investigation of Wal-Mart’s Expansion into Food Retailing," Research Reports 149931, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    14. Ting Zhu & Vishal Singh & Anthony Dukes, 2011. "Local competition, entry, and agglomeration," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 129-154, June.

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