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Loss Leading as an Exploitative Practice

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Rey, Patrick
  • Chen, Zhijun

Abstract

We show that large retailers, competing with smaller stores that carry a narrower range, can exercise market power by pricing below cost some of the products also offered by the smaller rivals, in order to discriminate multi-stop shoppers from onestop shoppers. Loss leading thus appears as an exploitative device rather than as an exclusionary instrument, although it hurts the smaller rivals as well; banning below-cost pricing increases consumer surplus, rivals’ profits, and social welfare. Our insights extend to industries where established firms compete with entrants offering fewer products. They also apply to complementary products such as platforms and applications.

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Paper provided by Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse in its series IDEI Working Papers with number 658.

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Date of creation: 23 Nov 2010
Date of revision: Dec 2011
Publication status: Published in American Economic Review, vol. 102, n°7, 2012, p. 3462-3482.
Handle: RePEc:ide:wpaper:24028
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Keywords: loss leading; exploitative practice; retail power;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
  • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Inderst, Roman & Wey, Christian, 2007. "Buyer power and supplier incentives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 647-667, April.
  2. Gijsbrechts, E. & Campo, K. & Nisol, P., 2005. "Beyond Promotion-Based Store Switching : Antecedents and Consequences of Systematic Multiple-Store Shopping," Discussion Paper 2005-76, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
  3. Bliss, Christopher, 1988. "A Theory of Retail Pricing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 375-391, June.
  4. Claire Chambolle, 2000. "Stratégies de revente à perte et réglementation," Working Papers 2000-52, Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique.
  5. Choi, Jay Pil & Stefanadis, Christodoulos, 2001. "Tying, Investment, and the Dynamic Leverage Theory," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(1), pages 52-71, Spring.
  6. Dennis W. Carlton & Michael Waldman, 2002. "The Strategic Use of Tying to Preserve and Create Market Power in Evolving Industries," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(2), pages 194-220, Summer.
  7. Glenn Ellison, 2005. "A Model of Add-On Pricing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 120(2), pages 585-637.
  8. Claire Chambolle, 2005. "Stratégies de revente à perte et réglementation," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 77, pages 59-79.
  9. Patrick Rey & Thibaud Vergé, 2010. "Resale Price Maintenance And Interlocking Relationships," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 928-961, December.
  10. Kathleen Cleeren & Frank Verboven & Marnik G. Dekimpe & Katrijn Gielens, 2010. "Intra- and Interformat Competition Among Discounters and Supermarkets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 456-473, 05-06.
  11. Lal, Rajiv & Matutes, Carmen, 1994. "Retail Pricing and Advertising Strategies," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(3), pages 345-370, July.
  12. Carmen Matutes & Pierre Regibeau, 1988. ""Mix and Match": Product Compatibility without Network Externalities," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(2), pages 221-234, Summer.
  13. Allain Marie-Laure & Chambolle Claire, 2005. "Loss-Leaders Banning Laws as Vertical Restraints," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, February.
  14. Farrell, Joseph & Katz, Michael L, 2000. "Innovation, Rent Extraction, and Integration in Systems Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 413-432, December.
  15. Mark Armstrong & John Vickers, 2010. "Competitive Non-linear Pricing and Bundling," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 30-60.
  16. Walsh, Patrick Paul & Whelan, Ciara, 1999. "Loss leading and price intervention in multiproduct retailing: welfare outcomes in a second-best world1," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 333-347, September.
  17. Skidmore, Mark & Peltier, James & Alm, James, 2005. "Do state motor fuel sales-below-cost laws lower prices?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 189-211, January.
  18. Roman Inderst & Tommaso M. Valletti, 2011. "Buyer Power And The ‘Waterbed Effect’," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 1-20, 03.
  19. repec:adr:anecst:y:2005:i:77:p:06 is not listed on IDEAS
  20. Weinstein, Jonathan & Ambrus, Attila, 2008. "Price dispersion and loss leaders," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 3(4), December.
  21. T. Randolph Beard & Michael L. Stern, 2008. "CONTINUOUS CROSS SUBSIDIES AND QUANTITY RESTRICTIONS -super-," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 840-861, December.
  22. William James Adams & Janet L. Yellen, 1976. "Commodity Bundling and the Burden of Monopoly," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 90(3), pages 475-498.
  23. repec:hrv:faseco:4685158 is not listed on IDEAS
  24. Paul Dobson & Michael Waterson, 1999. "Retailer power: recent developments and policy implications," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 14(28), pages 133-164, 04.
  25. repec:adr:anecst:y:2005:i:77 is not listed on IDEAS
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. “Loss Leading as an Exploitative Practice,” Z. Chen & P. Rey (2012)
    by afinetheorem in A Fine Theorem on 2013-07-12 04:27:32
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