An analysis of factors associated with weekly food store sales variation

Abstract

Retail food sales tend to decrease systematically as the time since payday increases. While the pattern of weekly sales is similar from store-to-store, the percentage variation of sales from the first to the last week of the month is greater for stores with low income customers than for similar stores with higher income customers. Meat department sales demonstrate the greatest variability, produce department sales the least. Retail costs, both labor and overhead, appear to increase with increased sales variability. Weekly sales variation has possible implications for the location and ownership of supermarkets, the design of in-store sales experiments, and pricing practices.