A small number of retailers are determining more and more how consumer products are made and sold in the US. As widely reported in the trade press, these dominant retailers are dictating their terms to the manufacturers while other retailers do not enjoy the same leverage. In this study, we make the distinction between a dominant and a weak retailer, and investigate the dominant retailer/manufa...

The paper provides a framework to help the weak retailer delineate the circumstances that allow him to benefit from an alliance between the dominant retailer and the common manufacturer. We use a game-theoretic model to determine the optimal pricing and service strategies when channel members act independently then when the dominant retailer forms an alliance with the manufacturer. We find that...

In certain product categories, large discount retailers are known to offer shallower assortments than traditional retailers. In this paper, we investigate the competitive incentives for such assortment decisions and the implications for manufacturers’ distribution strategies. Our results show that if one retailer has the channel power to determine its assortment first, then it can strategically...

Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge financial support from the AGSM and INSEAD and would like to thank Information Resources, Incorporated for the data and Peter McBurney, University of Liverpool for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. Abstract Competition among brands that sell through a supermarket chain is a repeated moderated oligopoly, where the retailer moderates br...

In this paper, a dominant firm and competitive fringe supply substitute goods to a retailer who has private information about demand. We show that it is profitable for the dominant firm to condition payment on how much the retailer buys from the fringe (market-share contracts). The dominant firm thereby creates countervailing incentives for the retailer and, in some cases, is able to obtain the...

For the Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers who are in the weak position in dual-channel marketing, they are often faced with channel price conflict. Therefore, it is necessary for the Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers to formulate effective pricing strategies. This paper modeled pricing strategies for two scenarios, which involved the manufacturer and retailer make decisions individually a...

We study a supply chain in which a consumer goods manufacturer sells its product through a retailer. The retailer undertakes promotional expenditures, such as advertising, to increase sales and to compete against other retailer(s). The manufacturer supports the retailer’s promotional expenditure through a cooperative advertising program by reimbursing a portion (called the subsidy rate) of the ...

Abstract   Vertical cooperative (co-op) advertising is typically a cost sharing mechanism and coordinated effort by the channel’s members in order to increase demand and overall profits. In this marketing strategy, the manufacturer shares a fraction of the retailer’s advertising investment. This paper studies the advertising and pricing decisions in a retailer-manufacturer supply chain in which...