How Geographic Variation Persists: Comments on “Consumer Packaged Goods in the United States: National Brands,Local Branding”

There are ample reasons that geographic variation in brand share persists. This comment highlights intentional strategies and feedback loops. Trade promotion, advertising, coupons, and special events are likely to be differentially allocated on the basis of market position and may have different effectiveness. Distribution is highly correlated with share, and distribution can be easier to get and maintain in strong markets. The interaction between retailers and manufacturers at the category level can be strong and persistent and can be observed in market-level data as a market effect.