| Nontraditional stores, including mass merchandisers, supercenters, club warehouse stores, and dollar stores, have increased their food offerings over the past 15 years and often promote themselves as lower priced alternatives to traditional supermarkets. How much lower are food prices at these stores? In order to better understand nontraditional stores’ impact on the cost of food, ERS analysts evaluate food price differences between nontraditional and traditional stores at the national and market level using 2004-06 Nielsen Homescan data. Findings show that nontraditional retailers offer lower prices than traditional stores even after controlling for brand and package size. Comparisons of identical items, at the Universal Product Code (UPC) level, show an... |
