How New Products Enter Markets: Social Networks, Consumer Imports, and Retailer Learning

Clicks: 33
ID: 333529
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #98 of 451 articles by views in the quarterly journal of economics

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 451 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract This paper studies how new varieties enter markets and become locally available. We provide causal evidence of demand externalities that operate in two steps. First, information about new varieties diffuses directly through real-world social ties among consumers. Second, early purchases generate an indirect spillover to firms: local retailers learn from “pioneer” consumers which new varieties are most likely to succeed and adjust their product offerings accordingly. We study this process in the context of direct-to-consumer imports. Using customs records on individuals’ purchases matched to population-wide social networks, international migrant links, and retailer catchment areas, we document economically meaningful demand externalities. Product-specific expenditure shocks abroad transmit through migrant networks and shift which varieties consumers purchase. Leveraging these shocks as a plausibly exogenous source of local demand variation, we show strong peer effects: prior purchases by close neighbors, coworkers, or friends increase an individual’s likelihood of purchasing the same variety, especially for premium and visible goods. We leverage this result to identify an indirect spillover from consumers to firms: retailers are more likely to add a variety to their assortment when it becomes popular among consumers in their catchment area. Combining the instrument with linked consumer–retailer data and a self-conducted retailer survey, we show that this response reflects learning about latent demand for varieties not yet stocked locally. Together, social diffusion and retailer learning generate demand multipliers that reshape local product availability and expand access to global variety.
Reference Key
openalex_W7223242374 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors David Argente, Esteban Méndez, Diana Van Patten
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal the quarterly journal of economics
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/qje/qjag052
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjag052
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.