This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bruno, H. A. Articles by Vilcassim, N. J. Search for Related Content

Research Note—Structural Demand Estimation with Varying Product Availability

Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands
London Business School, London NW1 4SA, United Kingdom
bruno{at}few.eur.nl
nvilcassim{at}london.edu

This paper develops a model that extends the traditional aggregate discrete-choice-based demand model (e.g. Berry et al. 1995) to account for varying levels of product availability. In cases where not all products are available at every consumer shopping trip, the observed market share is a convolution of two factors: consumer preferences and the availability of the product in stores. Failing to account for the varying degree of availability would produce incorrect estimates of the demand parameters. The proposed model uses information on aggregate availability to simulate the potential assortments that consumers may face in a given shopping trip. The model parameters are estimated by simulating potential product assortment vectors by drawing multivariate Bernoulli vectors consistent with the observed aggregate level of availability. The model is applied to the UK chocolate confectionery market, focusing on the convenience store channel. We compare the parameter estimates to those obtained from not accounting for varying availability and analyze some of the substantive implications.

Key Words: structural modeling; availability; retailing
History: Received: April 28, 2006;