Cannibalization in a Competitive Environment

Abstract

In this article, cannibalization and its effects on location decisions in a competitive retail environment is investigated. The authors analyze maximizing market share while minimizing cannibalization using the gravity (Huff) model. The efficient frontier according to these two noncompatible objectives is constructed and illustrated on an example problem. An easy to implement analysis that provides insight into management decisions is provided. To illustrate the ease of implementing the model using Excel, a description of the spreadsheet along with the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code are provided.competitive location; cannibalization; efficient frontier