First mover advantages in the discount grocery industry

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to address whether the order of entry yields competitive advantage in the discount grocery industry. More specifically, the paper aims to investigate whether such advantages are based on the effects of entry on consumer perceptions rather than factors such as technological leadership or cost efficiency. Design/methodology/approach The paper combines perceptual measures of overall preferences and attribute‐level beliefs with objective measures of attribute levels in order to explore whether entry‐based advantages in this industry are due to the relationships between entry and consumer perceptions. Findings The findings show that early entrants are perceived to be significantly superior to later entrants. This finding also hold true for store attributes documented to be similar across chains. Originality/value A number of papers have shown relationships between order of entry and indicators of competitive advantage. This is the first study that rules out “economic performance” based explanations for such advantages, i.e. superior efficiency, technological leadership or the pre‐emption of scarce resources.