Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cwl/cwldpp/1942r.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Price Search Across Time and Across Stores

Author

Listed:
  • Navid Mojir

    (Harvard Business School)

  • K. Sudhir

    (Yale School of Management and Cowles Foundation)

Abstract
In response to price dispersion across stores and price promotions over time, consumers search across both stores and time, in many retail settings. Yet there is no search model in extant research that jointly endogenizes search in both dimensions. We develop a model of search across stores and across time that nests a nite horizon model of search across stores within an in nite horizon model of inter-temporal search. The model is estimated using an iterative procedure that formulates it as a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) embedded within an E-M algorithm to allow estimation of latent class heterogeneity. The empirical analysis uses data on household store visits and purchases in the milk category. In contrast to extant research, we nd that omitting the temporal dimension underestimates price elasticity. We attribute this di"erence to the relative frequency of household stockouts and purchase frequency in the milk category. Interestingly, we nd that for a given mean and variance in price, increasing the frequency while reducing depth of price promotions across all stores can increase share of visits and pro ts for consumers� preferred store for the segment with high price sensitivity and low cross-store search cost; consumers who are most prone to search across stores and across time.

Suggested Citation

  • Navid Mojir & K. Sudhir, 2014. "Price Search Across Time and Across Stores," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1942R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jul 2019.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1942r
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cowles.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/pub/d19/d1942-r.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rust, John, 1987. "Optimal Replacement of GMC Bus Engines: An Empirical Model of Harold Zurcher," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(5), pages 999-1033, September.
    2. Igal Hendel & Aviv Nevo, 2006. "Sales and consumer inventory," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 543-561, September.
    3. Raluca M. Ursu, 2018. "The Power of Rankings: Quantifying the Effect of Rankings on Online Consumer Search and Purchase Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 530-552, August.
    4. Che‐Lin Su & Kenneth L. Judd, 2012. "Constrained Optimization Approaches to Estimation of Structural Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(5), pages 2213-2230, September.
    5. John Conlisk & Eitan Gerstner & Joel Sobel, 1984. "Cyclic Pricing by a Durable Goods Monopolist," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(3), pages 489-505.
    6. J. J. McCall, 1970. "Economics of Information and Job Search," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(1), pages 113-126.
    7. Jun B. Kim & Paulo Albuquerque & Bart J. Bronnenberg, 2010. "Online Demand Under Limited Consumer Search," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1001-1023, 11-12.
    8. Andreyeva, T. & Long, M.W. & Brownell, K.D., 2010. "The impact of food prices on consumption: A systematic review of research on the price elasticity of demand for food," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(2), pages 216-222.
    9. Scott A. Neslin & Caroline Henderson & John Quelch, 1985. "Consumer Promotions and the Acceleration of Product Purchases," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(2), pages 147-165.
    10. Stephan Seiler, 2013. "The impact of search costs on consumer behavior: A dynamic approach," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 155-203, June.
    11. David Besanko & Wayne L. Winston, 1990. "Optimal Price Skimming by a Monopolist Facing Rational Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(5), pages 555-567, May.
    12. Tülin Erdem & Susumu Imai & Michael Keane, 2003. "Brand and Quantity Choice Dynamics Under Price Uncertainty," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 5-64, March.
    13. Elisabeth Honka, 2014. "Quantifying search and switching costs in the US auto insurance industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(4), pages 847-884, December.
    14. Sergei Koulayev, 2009. "Estimating demand in search markets: the case of online hotel bookings," Working Papers 09-16, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    15. Igal Hendel & Aviv Nevo, 2006. "Measuring the Implications of Sales and Consumer Inventory Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(6), pages 1637-1673, November.
    16. Elisabeth Honka & Pradeep Chintagunta, 2017. "Simultaneous or Sequential? Search Strategies in the U.S. Auto Insurance Industry," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 21-42, January.
    17. Babur De Los Santos & Ali Hortacsu & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2012. "Testing Models of Consumer Search Using Data on Web Browsing and Purchasing Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2955-2980, October.
    18. Weitzman, Martin L, 1979. "Optimal Search for the Best Alternative," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(3), pages 641-654, May.
    19. Doug J. Chung & Thomas Steenburgh & K. Sudhir, 2014. "Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 165-187, March.
    20. Stigler, George J., 2011. "Economics of Information," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 35-49.
    21. Peter Arcidiacono & John Bailey Jones, 2003. "Finite Mixture Distributions, Sequential Likelihood and the EM Algorithm," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(3), pages 933-946, May.
    22. Salop, S & Stiglitz, J E, 1982. "The Theory of Sales: A Simple Model of Equilibrium Price Dispersion with Identical Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 1121-1130, December.
    23. Nitin Mehta & Surendra Rajiv & Kannan Srinivasan, 2003. "Price Uncertainty and Consumer Search: A Structural Model of Consideration Set Formation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 58-84, June.
    24. Wesley R. Hartmann & Harikesh S. Nair, 2010. "Retail Competition and the Dynamics of Demand for Tied Goods," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 366-386, 03-04.
    25. Andrew Ching & Tülin Erdem & Michael Keane, 2009. "The price consideration model of brand choice," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 393-420, April.
    26. Igal Hendel & Aviv Nevo, 2006. "Sales and Consumer Inventory," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 543-561, Autumn.
    27. Stephan Seiler, 2013. "The impact of search costs on consumer behavior: A dynamic approach," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 155-203, June.
    28. Shane Frederick & George Loewenstein & Ted O'Donoghue, 2002. "Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 351-401, June.
    29. Mortensen, Dale T, 1970. "Job Search, the Duration of Unemployment, and the Phillips Curve," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(5), pages 847-862, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hana Choi & Carl F. Mela, 2019. "Monetizing Online Marketplaces," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 948-972, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Navid Mojir & K. Sudhir, 2014. "A Model of Multi-pass Search: Price Search across Stores and Time," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1942R2, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Feb 2020.
    2. Navid Mojir & K. Sudhir, 2014. "Price Search Across Stores and Across Time," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1942, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Mar 2016.
    3. Avery Haviv, 2022. "Consumer Search, Price Promotions, and Counter-Cyclic Pricing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(2), pages 294-314, March.
    4. Mantian (Mandy) Hu & Chu (Ivy) Dang & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2019. "Search and Learning at a Daily Deals Website," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(4), pages 609-642, July.
    5. Tiago Pires, 2016. "Costly search and consideration sets in storable goods markets," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 157-193, September.
    6. Février, Philippe & Wilner, Lionel, 2016. "Do consumers correctly expect price reductions? Testing dynamic behavior," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 25-40.
    7. Stephan Seiler & Fabio Pinna, 2017. "Estimating Search Benefits from Path-Tracking Data: Measurement and Determinants," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(4), pages 565-589, July.
    8. Pires, Tiago, 2018. "Measuring the effects of search costs on equilibrium prices and profits," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 179-205.
    9. Anocha Aribarg & Thomas Otter & Daniel Zantedeschi & Greg M. Allenby & Taylor Bentley & David J. Curry & Marc Dotson & Ty Henderson & Elisabeth Honka & Rajeev Kohli & Kamel Jedidi & Stephan Seiler & X, 2018. "Advancing Non-compensatory Choice Models in Marketing," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 5(1), pages 82-92, March.
    10. Stephan Seiler, 2013. "The impact of search costs on consumer behavior: A dynamic approach," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 155-203, June.
    11. Stephan Seiler, 2013. "The impact of search costs on consumer behavior: A dynamic approach," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 155-203, June.
    12. Raluca M. Ursu & Qingliang Wang & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2020. "Search Duration," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(5), pages 849-871, September.
    13. Xing Zhang & Tat Y. Chan & Ying Xie, 2018. "Price Search and Periodic Price Discounts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 495-510, February.
    14. Ilya Morozov & Stephan Seiler & Xiaojing Dong & Liwen Hou, 2021. "Estimation of Preference Heterogeneity in Markets with Costly Search," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(5), pages 871-899, September.
    15. Elisabeth Honka, 2014. "Quantifying search and switching costs in the US auto insurance industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(4), pages 847-884, December.
    16. Raluca Ursu & Stephan Seiler & Elisabeth Honka, 2023. "The Sequential Search Model: A Framework for Empirical Research," CESifo Working Paper Series 10264, CESifo.
    17. Raluca M. Ursu & Qianyun Zhang & Elisabeth Honka, 2023. "Search Gaps and Consumer Fatigue," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 110-136, January.
    18. Hana Choi & Carl F. Mela, 2019. "Monetizing Online Marketplaces," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 948-972, November.
    19. Anna Lu, 2017. "Inference of Consumer Consideration Sets," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1681, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Bryan K. Bollinger & Wesley R. Hartmann, 2020. "Information vs. Automation and Implications for Dynamic Pricing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 290-314, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer Search; Price Search; Store search; Spatial search; Temporal search; Spatiotemporal Search; Dynamic Structural Models; MPEC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1942r. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Brittany Ladd (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cowleus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.