Multiproduct Retailing

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rhodes, Andrew
• 署名单位: Universite de Toulouse; Universite Toulouse 1 Capitole; Toulouse School of Economics
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdu032
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 360-390
• 关键词: consumer search; price image; loss leader; MODEL; profitability; equilibrium; probability; COMPETITION; demand; CHOICE

摘要

We study the pricing behaviour of a multiproduct firm, when consumers must pay a search cost to learn its prices. Equilibrium prices are high, because consumers understand that visiting a store exposes them to a hold-up problem. However, a firm with more products charges lower prices, because it attracts consumers who are more price sensitive. Similarly, when a firm advertises a low price on one product, consumers rationally expect it to charge somewhat lower prices on its other products as well. We therefore find that having a large product range, and advertising a low price on one product, are substitute ways of building a low-price image. Finally, we show that in a competitive setting each product has a high regular price, with firms occasionally giving random discounts that are positively correlated across products.