Staggering and synchronisation of prices in a low-inflation environment: Evidence from German food stores

Only a few studies have analysed staggering and synchronisation in pricing behaviour of multiproduct firms. These studies used low-frequency data in an environment of high rates of inflation. This article investigates staggering and synchronisation of weekly prices for 10 food products in 131 grocery stores in Germany over the period of May 1995 to December 2000 (296 weeks). Different forms of staggering and synchronisation (across-store synchronisation, within type-of-store synchronisation, within-retailer synchronisation, or across-product synchronisation) have been analysed. None of these forms of synchronisation is supported empirically, however. In contrast, perfect staggering can only be rejected in very few cases, indicating that fixed or firm-specific menu costs are not major causes for price stickiness. [JEL classification: L11, D40] © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.