Scan Data : An alternative source of data for consumer demand research

Scan data have recently become a more popular source of data for use in consumer demand research. Previous studies have used scan data to measure the effects of promotional actives and their effects on consumer demand. Before scan data were available, researchers most frequent sources of data were government survey publications. These data sets are creditable and useful but they do not contain all the desirable characteristics needed in consumer demand research. There are also private corporations that collect and supply data, but there interest lies with the needs of industry not academia. The government surveys are briefly described and comments regarding their usefulness in consumer demand follows. The public data sets are also described and a word is said about their effectiveness in consumer demand research at the academic level.

The empirical analysis is centered around estimation the demand for beef hotdogs using scan data plus data that contain advertising information from television, radio, and newspaper. The null hypotheses that holidays, television, and radio advertising do not have an impact on demand can all be rejected, since the respective parameter estimates are significantly by different from zero. Newspaper advertising on the other hand has proven to be insignificant.