The advent of optical scanning devices and decreases in the cost of computing power have made it possible to assemble databases with sales and marketing mix information in an accurate and timely manner. These databases enable the estimation of demand functions and pricing/promotion decisions in...

Retailers and manufacturers believe that the mere presence of certain items in a retail assortment increases the sales volume of the whole assortment. This paper provides an empirical study of the role of every item in an assortment. Our results show that many items affect category sales over...