Uniform Pricing in US Retail Chains

Stefano DellaVigna and Matthew Gentzkow

No 23996, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We show that most US food, drugstore, and mass merchandise chains charge nearly-uniform prices across stores, despite wide variation in consumer demographics and competition. Demand estimates reveal substantial within-chain variation in price elasticities and suggest that the median chain sacrifices $16m of annual profit relative to a benchmark of optimal prices. In contrast, differences in average prices between chains are broadly consistent with the optimal benchmark. We discuss a range of explanations for nearly-uniform pricing, highlighting managerial inertia and brand-image concerns as mechanisms frequently mentioned by industry participants. Relative to our optimal benchmark, uniform pricing may significantly increase the prices paid by poorer households relative to the rich, dampen the response of prices to local economic shocks, alter the analysis of mergers in antitrust, and shift the incidence of intra-national trade costs.

JEL-codes: D9 L1 L2 M31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-ind and nep-mkt
Note: CF EFG IO ITI LE LS ME PE PR
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (39)

Published as Stefano DellaVigna & Matthew Gentzkow, 2019. "Uniform Pricing in U.S. Retail Chains," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 134(4), pages 2011-2084.

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Journal Article: Uniform Pricing in U.S. Retail Chains (2019)
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