TY - JOUR
T1 - Switching cost and store choice
AU - Richards, Timothy J.
AU - Liaukonytė, Jura
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank seminar participants at the Toulouse School of Economics, University of Zaragoza, the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Tim Derdenger, Matt Osborne, Xinrong Zhu, Steve Hamilton, Metin Cakir, three anonymous reviewers, and editor Brian Roe for their helpful comments. All errors remain our own. Funding from AFRI-USDA grant no. 2019-67023-29415 is gratefully acknowledged.
Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank seminar participants at the Toulouse School of Economics, University of Zaragoza, the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Tim Derdenger, Matt Osborne, Xinrong Zhu, Steve Hamilton, Metin Cakir, three anonymous reviewers, and editor Brian Roe for their helpful comments. All errors remain our own. Funding from AFRI‐USDA grant no. 2019‐67023‐29415 is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. American Journal of Agricultural Economics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - Switching costs are generally regarded as anticompetitive as firms can raise prices to “locked-in” consumers, at least up to the cost of switching to a lower-priced alternative. However, there is some evidence, both theoretical and empirical, that tends to show the opposite. Namely, suppliers, anticipating the pool of rents potentially available, compete aggressively to acquire non-switching consumers. Moreover, fixed shopping costs and uncertain prices imply that there is a “real option” value embedded in consumers’ shopping behavior, and which must be priced in and compensated if consumers are to switch stores. We argue that retail prices are lower when retailers use programs designed to increase customer retention, or “stickiness.” We test our theory using a panel of household-level, store-choice data. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that loyalty is pro-competitive and leads to lower prices than would otherwise be the case. We also find that approximately 50% of the cumulative loyalty effect is attributable to the existence of a real option due to price uncertainty and that switching costs are substantial and comprise around 12% of the average cost of a basket of groceries.
AB - Switching costs are generally regarded as anticompetitive as firms can raise prices to “locked-in” consumers, at least up to the cost of switching to a lower-priced alternative. However, there is some evidence, both theoretical and empirical, that tends to show the opposite. Namely, suppliers, anticipating the pool of rents potentially available, compete aggressively to acquire non-switching consumers. Moreover, fixed shopping costs and uncertain prices imply that there is a “real option” value embedded in consumers’ shopping behavior, and which must be priced in and compensated if consumers are to switch stores. We argue that retail prices are lower when retailers use programs designed to increase customer retention, or “stickiness.” We test our theory using a panel of household-level, store-choice data. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that loyalty is pro-competitive and leads to lower prices than would otherwise be the case. We also find that approximately 50% of the cumulative loyalty effect is attributable to the existence of a real option due to price uncertainty and that switching costs are substantial and comprise around 12% of the average cost of a basket of groceries.
KW - Markov-perfect equilibrium
KW - food retailing
KW - option value
KW - retail prices
KW - shopping-basket model
KW - switching costs
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U2 - 10.1111/ajae.12307
DO - 10.1111/ajae.12307
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85125395031
SN - 0002-9092
VL - 105
SP - 195
EP - 218
JO - American Journal of Agricultural Economics
JF - American Journal of Agricultural Economics
IS - 1
ER -