The links between sales and retail distribution: An overview and case study of alcoholic beverages

An understanding of the effect of widening retail distribution on sales is useful for both producers and retailers. A key difficulty in dealing with this interaction is the ‘chicken or egg’ problem: wider distribution leads to higher sales, but higher sales also lead to wider distribution. This paper discusses the interaction between the push and pull factors that determine the distribution–sales relationship, and then discusses a novel quasi-experiment that identifies the one-way, causal effect of distribution on sales.

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