Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector

Emek Basker

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: Barcodes and barcode scanners transformed the grocery industry in the 1970s. I use store-level data from the 1972, 1977, and 1982 Census of Retail Trade, matched to data on store scanner installations, to estimate scanners’ effect on labor productivity. I find that early scanners increased a store’s labor productivity, on average, by approximately 4.5 percent in the first few years. The effect was larger in stores carrying more packaged products, consistent with the presence of network externalities. Short-run gains were small relative to fixed costs, suggesting that the impediment to widespread adoption of the new technology was profitability, not coordination problems.

Keywords: Barcode scanners; Retail; Supermarkets; Technology; Productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 L81 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2011-05, Revised 2011-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-eff
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2011/CES-WP-11-16R.pdf Revised version, 2011 (application/pdf)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2011/CES-WP-11-16.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Chapter: Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector (2012)
Journal Article: Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector (2012)
Working Paper: Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector (2012)
Working Paper: Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-16

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