A more general consideration of segmented switchers
(adding s23 and s13 switcher segments) does not change the
model’s intuition or conclusions. Additional switcher segments
modify the degree of a retailer’s relative incentive to
discount, but the pricing equilibrium remains a function of
retailers’ SLRs and their rank order. Generalizing to more
than three asymmetric retailers also gives results that are
similar to a triopoly (details are available on request). Thus,
our model focuses on three firms and two switcher segments
for relative tractability.