Elementary Index Bias: Evidence for the Euro Area from a Large Scanner Dataset

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. e618-e656
Author(s):  
Enikő Gábor-Tóth ◽  
Philip Vermeulen

Abstract We provide evidence on the effect of elementary index choice on inflation measurement in the euro area. Using scanner data for 15,844 individual items from 42 product categories and 10 euro area countries, we compute product category level elementary price indexes using eight different elementary index formulas. Measured inflation outcomes of the different index formulas are compared with the Fisher ideal index to quantify elementary index bias. We have three main findings. First, elementary index bias is quite variable across product categories, countries and index formulas. Second, a comparison of elementary index formulas with and without expenditure weights shows that a shift from price only indexes to expenditure weighted indexes would entail at the product level multiple percentage points differences in measured price changes. And finally, we show that elementary index bias is quantitatively more important than upper level substitution bias.

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-654
Author(s):  
Josefa Parreño-Selva ◽  
Francisco J. Mas-Ruiz ◽  
Enar Ruiz-Conde

Retailers use price promotion of light and regular products, but not all of these products are perceived as relative virtues and vices, respectively. This paper aims to identify whether consumers distinguish between the two product categories. Survey data is used to distinguish between each product category, and identifies low-fat milk as a light product that gives both immediate and delayed rewards. Daily scanner data from a hypermarket supports the effects of price promotions on sales within and between product categories, as expected. We expect that, (1) due to these light products representing more enduring involvement, demand is less price sensitive compared to demand for regular products; (2) as nonimpulse purchase products, price promotions of light products cannibalize the sales of other light products; and (3) the loss of light product benefits associated with switching means that price promotions of light products hurt regular product sales more than vice versa.


1996 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chakravarthi Narasimhan ◽  
Scott A. Neslin ◽  
Subrata K. Sen

The authors study the relationships between product category characteristics and average brand promotional elasticity within the category. They present a framework for understanding these relationships and use it to generate hypotheses. The authors also consider three types of promotions and seven category characteristics. They study 108 product categories and use data compiled from weekly scanner data, scanner panel data, and survey data. Their results indicate that promotional elasticities are higher for categories with relatively fewer number of brands, higher category penetration, shorter interpurchase times, and higher consumer propensity to stockpile. The authors find no statistically significant relationship between promotional elasticity and either impulse buying or private label market share. They discuss the reasons for these results and their managerial implications.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000183922110123
Author(s):  
Johnny Boghossian ◽  
Robert J. David

Categories are organized vertically, with product categories nested under larger umbrella categories. Meaning flows from umbrella categories to the categories beneath them, such that the construction of a new umbrella category can significantly reshape the categorical landscape. This paper explores the construction of a new umbrella category and the nesting beneath it of a product category. Specifically, we study the construction of the Quebec terroir products umbrella category and the nesting of the Quebec artisanal cheese product category under this umbrella. Our analysis shows that the construction of umbrella categories can unfold entirely separately from that of product categories and can follow a distinct categorization process. Whereas the construction of product categories may be led by entrepreneurs who make salient distinctive product attributes, the construction of umbrella categories may be led by “macro actors” removed from the market. We found that these macro actors followed a goal-derived categorization process: they first defined abstract goals and ideals for the umbrella category and only subsequently sought to populate it with product categories. Among the macro actors involved, the state played a central role in defining the meaning of the Quebec terroir category and mobilizing other macro actors into the collective project, a finding that suggests an expanded role of the state in category construction. We also found that market intermediaries are important in the nesting of product categories beneath new umbrella categories, notably by projecting identities onto producers consistent with the goals of the umbrella category. We draw on these findings to develop a process model of umbrella category construction and product category nesting.


2003 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 9-16

The outlook for world growth this year has deteriorated since April, due to a sharp contraction in world trade in the first quarter of the year and failure to sustain the revival in private sector investment seen in the fourth quarter of 2002. We have as a consequence revised our projections for world growth this year down by ¼ percentage point. This reflects sharp downward revisions of ½–¾ percentage points in the Euro Area and Canada, both of whose exchange rates have continued to appreciate in effective terms, while the outlook for the US and Japan is broadly unchanged. Growth in Japan and the Euro Area stagnated in the first half of 2003, with recessions in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria appearing likely. The US and Canada, on the other hand, continued to expand, albeit more slowly than in the second half of 2002. Following two years of exceptional weakness, Latin American growth has started to revive, although Venezuela is still suffering from the 2 month stoppage in the oil industry earlier this year and Argentina has lost competitiveness due to a strong appreciation against the dollar. Growth has slowed in several Asian economies, notably South Korea, but China continues to expand rapidly, spurred by the competitiveness impact of the dollar depreciation and infrastructure preparations for the 2008 Olympics. This has helped sustain export growth from the rest of Asia despite the more widespread slowdown in world trade.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Farías ◽  
Luis Torres

PurposeThis paper explores which market and product category characteristics could influence the use of foreign language brand names (i.e. whether a brand uses a foreign language versus local language brand name) in some of the largest Latin American countries.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses are tested using 880 brands from 39 product categories and nine Latin American markets using a hierarchical logistic regression.FindingsResults revealed that foreign language brand names are more likely to be used in product categories related to local infrastructure, high-tech and global community. In contrast, local language brand names are more likely to be used in product categories associated to subscriptions. Findings also suggest that Hofstede's national cultural dimensions are significant factors. Finally, the results revealed that foreign language brand names are more likely to be used in markets with a low level of foreign language proficiency.Originality/valueThis paper shows the importance of considering market and product category characteristics and their potential influence on local versus foreign language branding in Latin America – an ignored issue in previous research.


2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tapan K. Panda

Use of Sex in advertising continues despite the public outcry against it. Exposing mature adults to sex based advertising often invites lesser criticism compared to advertising that targets teenagers. Its use in advertising is no more confined to adult programs on television or adult literature; its consequences are far reaching in the context of exposure through mass media. Although some level of sex content might help in selling, the real questions are: how much sex content is appropriate; when is the use of such content appropriate, and for which target audience. The present research aims to explore some of these questions through consumer data in which teenagers are shown a series of print and television advertisements with different degree of sex content for different product categories. This paper attempts to find out the effectiveness of sex based advertising on the overall attitude and behavioural intention of respondents by application of Fishbien Behavioural Intention Model. The paper tries to find out the relationship between the use of sex content in advertisements for commercial and non-commercial product category at different levels of depiction and behavioural intention towards product categories. The results show that the respondents find sex-content based advertisement to be in bad taste in the context of family setting and there is a relatively moderating effect on the behavioural intention of consumers upon exposure to commercial product advertisements.


ORiON ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petrus Potgieter ◽  
Bronwyn Howell

The non-rival, non-excludable and infinitely expansible characteristics of digital goods with marginal cost of zero strongly favours the use of bundling strategies. Theoretical tractability requires most models in the current literature to make highly stylized assumptions, rarely observed or anticipated in the real-life situations, motivating inquiry. This paper considers a competition model in which: * the firms, consumers and differentiated products are finite in number; * prices are discrete and not continuous; * consumers may purchase multiple items in a single product category where the degree of complementarity or substitutability of the product categories can also vary across consumers; and * where consumer-specific cost savings are obtained when purchasing multiple items from the same firm. Approximate solutions are obtained through numerical simulation. Firms act in concert to maximise the total firm revenue. Our main finding is that the interplay between maximal firm revenue, consumer surplus and prices is very complex and that high firm revenue and high consumer surplus are not antithetic. It suggests also that consumer surplus and market concentration are not necessarily related. Many market outcomes that are observed may be due to chance rather than design as diverse outcomes can accompany situations that are, to the firms, difficult to distinguish.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 362
Author(s):  
Freja Nygaard Rasmussen ◽  
Camilla Ernst Andersen ◽  
Alexandra Wittchen ◽  
Rasmus Nøddegaard Hansen ◽  
Harpa Birgisdóttir

The use of wood and timber products in the construction of buildings is repeatedly pointed towards as a mean for lowering the environmental footprint. With several countries preparing regulation for life cycle assessment of buildings, practitioners from industry will presumably look to the pool of data on wood products found in environmental product declarations (EPDs). However, the EPDs may vary broadly in terms of reporting and results. This study provides a comprehensive review of 81 third-party verified EN 15804 EPDs of cross laminated timber (CLT), glulam, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and timber. The 81 EPDs represent 86 different products and 152 different product scenarios. The EPDs mainly represent European production, but also North America and Australia/New Zealand productions are represented. Reported global warming potential (GWP) from the EPDs vary within each of the investigated product categories, due to density of the products and the end-of-life scenarios applied. Median results per kg of product, excluding the biogenic CO2, are found at 0.26, 0.24, and 0.17 kg CO2e for CLT, glulam, and timber, respectively. Results further showed that the correlation between GWP and other impact categories is limited. Analysis of the inherent data uncertainty showed to add up to ±41% to reported impacts when assessed with an uncertainty method from the literature. However, in some of the average EPDs, even larger uncertainties of up to 90% for GWP are reported. Life cycle assessment practitioners can use the median values from this study as generic data in their assessments of buildings. To make the EPDs easier to use for practitioners, a more detailed coordination between EPD programs and their product category rules is recommended, as well as digitalization of EPD data.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prateek Kalia

To remain profitable, managers and researchers want to gain insights about products bought by e-shoppers in past and their future shopping interests. They also want to know, “what factors are creating difference in shopping behavior of these buyers.” This article addresses above situation by presenting product category-wise demographic comparison of past and future e-purchase intentions of e-shoppers. Results revealed significant differences in past e-purchases within gender, marital status, age, city of residence and occupational categories with respect to different product categories, surprisingly no such differences were observed in educational and family income categories. For future e-purchases intentions, significant differences were found within gender, city of residence, marital status, age and education categories. Here differences within occupational and family income groups were not observed. Maximum demographic differences were observed in product categories like clothing, books and auto parts.


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