The growth and dominance of large, national chains is a ubiquitous feature of the US retail sector. The recent literature has documented the rise of these chains and the contribution of this structural change to productivity growth in the retail trade sector. Recent studies have also shown that...

This paper puts into perspective the early patterns of retailers’ adoption of e-commerce across product categories and firm types. The focus is on understanding how consumer loyalty, differences in firms’ technology and consumers’ preferences across the traditional versus the virtual...

This paper analyzes the structure of retail markets by highlighting the differential pattern exhibited across local markets by two different types of firm organization: chain stores versus stand-alone stores. Data from retail alcoholic beverage industry in California suggest that the number of...