Supermarket Pricing and Promotional Behavior: Evidence from the San Luis Obispo Market

We collected price and promotional data from seven supermarkets operating in San Luis Obispo, CA, for one year, from 2017 to 2018. Using the data, we created a series of variables to measure prices and promotional activity. These variables were subjected to an exploratory regression analysis. The research uncovered a number of findings that help explain price variation in supermarkets and motivate future research. Average prices, price variation, promotional frequency, and promotional depth are all interrelated in important, and in some cases unexplored, ways.