Resumen de How Do Retailers Price Beer During Periods of Peak Demand? Evidence from Game Weeks of the German Bundesliga

Janine Empen, Stephen F. Hamilton

• This article considers retail beer pricing during game weeks of the German Bundesliga. German consumers exhibit a high degree of brand-loyalty in their preference for regionally crafted beers, and we exploit the regional brand-loyalty of German beer consumers to identify brand-level demand shocks for beers preferred by the home team s fans and visiting team's fans during Bundesliga game weeks. We find retailer price adjustments at the category level mask a considerably more nuanced pricing behavior at the brand level. Retailers in regions hosting Bundesliga games significantly increase beer prices at the category level during game weeks; however, at the brand level, we find retailers selectively discount prices on the home team's sponsored beers and systematically raise prices on the visiting team's sponsored beers. Our findings are consistent with a "tourist-natives" model of retail pricing during periods of increased demand in the German beer market.