Researchers have difficulty modeling the influence of retailing attributes on consumer choice. The literature of retailing that has dealt with this issue has conventionally used experimental data for estimating the influence of retailing attributes on consumer behavior. The present research applies hedonic analysis to the measurement of the value of retailing attributes. This is accomplished by applying hedonic specifications to supply and demand models for the retail sales of unleaded gasoline for the purpose of estimating the influence of specified retailing attributes on retail prices. Four retailing attributes-accessibility, convenience, service, and competition-were expected to have a determinable value that was measurable through hedonic specifications. Spatial competition was expected to influence retail prices by lowering them. The value of retailing attributes was expected to be variable relative to household income. It was found that the value of the specified retailing attributes could be isolated and determined. The application of hedonic analysis to the supply and demand of unleaded gasoline provided a relatively precise and consistent market value, which was represented by the "ask" and "bid" implicit prices of these retailing attributes. Spatial competition was seen to exert an important influence on retailing, tending to lower retail prices. The value of retailing attributes was found to be variable relative to household income. The relative consistency and precision of hedonic analysis in the measurement of the value of retailing attribute was reinforced insofar as the findings were consistent with generally accepted notions of retail marketing and consumer behavior as represented in the literature in the field.

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It is a broad function of this thesis to provide the commodity world with a new and valuable informational tool. This thesis shows quarterly prices for a ten year period 1940 through 1949, on fifty major commodities, giving in each case the actual cash price and the cash price adjusted to the purchasing power of the 1926 dollar. This adjusted price is a statistically derived relative price and for the purposes of this study is called a constant dollar value.

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Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study was an attempt to analyse the relationship between Brent crude oil prices, the South African rand US$ exchange rate and fuel prices in South Africa. Covering the period between 2003 and 2013, the ultimate objective was to test if there is asymmetric prices adjustment between Brent crude oil prices and the rand US$ exchange rate, on the one hand, and retail fuel prices on the other hand. As a time-series analysis, the study used the Augmented Dickey Fuller and Phillips-Perron tests for stationarity, as well as some cointegration tests. The results show that the effect of the current crude oil price and the exchange rate between the ZAR and the US$ on current fuel prices is insignificant. Instead, the current fuel prices are affected mainly by the previous month’s fuel price, the crude oil price and the exchange rate. Furthermore, the results of the threshold autoregressive model (TAR) do not prove the presence of asymmetry in the fuel price adjustment on a month-to-month basis in South Africa. The conclusion here is that the basic fuel price model is aligned to its import parity objective of symmetric adjustment in fuel prices. However, there exist some structural inefficiencies in South Africa`s fuel market, therefore policymakers should address those short-term inefficiencies in the price transmission from crude oil to fuel prices.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / Economics and Finance / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy