Buyer Attitudes and the Continuity of Manufacturer/Retailer Relationships

Abstract

This research focuses on the delisting (or unbuying) of products and what in the attitude of the buyer might lead to a delisting of all the supplier's products, thereby ending the relationship. A del-isted product is defined here as one which was still being sold by other retailers. The decision to delist therefore involves a purposive action by the retail buyer. Using confirmatory analysis of a model of delisting behaviour, both cognitive and affective components of buyers' attitudes were found to correlate with the ending of the relationship by the retail buyer. Of the antecedent factors, frequency of contact was found to be the most salient. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

The Impact of Brand Delisting on Store Switching and Brand Switching Intentions

A tool retailers often use to improve their negotiating position with brand manufacturers is to delist - or threaten to delist - the manufacturers’ brand. Because brand manufacturers rely mainly on retailers to sell their products to consumers, a brand delisting will cause a sales loss for the brand manufacturer. Therefore, many brand manufacturers feel enormous pressure to give in and improve buying conditions to favor the retailer. The question thus emerges: Can a brand manufacturer resist a retailer's threat to delist its brand(s)? If a brand delisting severely hurts retail sales, it is easier for a brand manufacturer to resist. The authors study the impact of brand delistings on store switching and brand switching using a controlled online experiment and in-store shopper survey. They develop and test a conceptual model with several antecedents of consumers’ reactions to a brand delisting and conclude that brand equity, market share, and the products’ hedonic level drive store and brand switching.     

Towards a Further Understanding of the Antecedents of Retailer New Product Adoption

In addition to the traditionally investigated profit-drivers of retail adoption, such as gross margin, trade support, consumer marketing support, and product uniqueness, the authors investigate to what extent relatively under-investigated variables, such as relationship variables and category variables, are potential antecedents of retailers’ new product adoption decisions. Based on a sample of 392 new product adoption decisions by buyers of a Dutch food retailer, the authors provide evidence that both relationship and category variables do matter in new product adoption decisions by retailers. They show a significant negative effect of relationship dependence, and a significant positive effect of relationship length on a retailer's new product adoption probability. Furthermore, the authors show that higher levels of expected category growth due to the new product introduction are associated with higher levels of retailer adoption probability. Finally, in contrast with all previous retail adoption studies, this study shows a significant, positive relation between the relative gross margin of the new product and the retailer adoption probability.     

Product Procurement: A Comparison of Taiwanese and US Retail Companies

The buying function of Taiwanese and US retailers differs in several areas. The consingment method of selling is very prevalent in Taiwan but rarely used in the US. Taiwanense retail buyers were found to have less buying and retail experience than their US counterparts. However, neither buying nor retail experience were found to be significantly retaled to taiwanese buyers' attitudes about product procurement. Significant differences were identified between Taiwanese and US retail buyers' attitudes about country of origin and perceived value of imported merchandise. Taiwanese buyers were found to be more likely to rely on country of origin as an information cue than their US counterparts. On the other hand, as compared to Taiwanese buyers, US buyers were found more likely to percieve foreign apparel as having value than domestically manufactured products.     

Buying Behavior of Western European Food Retailers

Abstract

The aim of this study has been to analyze important aspects of buying behavior of food retailers, i.e., trade buyers' evaluation of product and vendor attributes, based on a number of background variables, when choosing a new supplier of an already well-known product category. The study encompassed the retailers' buying behavior for pork, fish and cheese products. By conducting a conjoint analysis in sixteen Western European countries (15 'old' EU Countries (except Luxemburg), plus Norway and Austria), it is demonstrated that the traditional four Ps are losing ground to some previously neglected attributes, and that it is possible to generalise retailers' buying behavior for different food products across countries, retail organizations, and buyers.     

Identifying factors affecting consumers purchase incidence at retail trade shows

The purpose of this article is to examine variables influencing purchase incidences at retail trade shows. To this end, retailer and consumer related antecedent variables are proposed. The retailer related variables are represented by store environmental cues of sales staff services, store atmosphere and product assortment. The consumer related variables are represented by impulse buying tendency and perceived time pressure. Drawing on relevant literature, hypotheses are developed to link each of these variables to purchase incidence. Data were collected using questionnaire from shoppers (N=95) at a large retail trade show. The hypotheses were tested using partial least square path modeling. The findings indicate that consumers’ favorable evaluation of retailers’ sales staff services, store atmosphere and product assortment led to more purchase incidences. The findings about the consumer related variables indicate that impulse buying tendency led to more purchase incidences whereas perceived time pressure led to fewer purchase incidences. Drawing on these results, several implications for practice and research are suggested.     

Buyer Power,Transport Cost and Welfare

Manufacturers produce substitute products and sell to consumers in a linear city through competing retail stores. A low cost store obtains large market share by selling at low prices. Assume that a big retailer may exert buyer power by demanding wholesale discounts from manufacturers. The model identifies exclusionary effects of buyer power against competing retailers. It is also found that certain level of buyer power of a discount retailer may maximize social welfare, while that of a regular price retailer may maximize total consumer surplus. Nevertheless, excessive buyer power hurts both consumers and society.     

Indian Consumers’ Perception for Packaged Food and the Strategies of Food and Grocery Retailers in India—An Analysis

The aim of this article is to study the Indian consumer buying decisions of packaged food and to assess the impact of demographic dynamics on their behavior and their perception about the practicing marketing strategies of different leading food retailers across the National Capital region. We have taken six different retailers—viz. Big Bazaar, Spencer’s Retail, Reliance Fresh, 6Ten retail stores, convenience stores, and kirana (mom-and-pop) shops—in our research in an attempt to examine the consumer’s perception for these retailers’ marketing strategies to sell packaged food. The purpose to choose these retailers is to assess the impact as a whole from organized food retail as well as unorganized food retailing on consumer buying decisions. Respondents were selected by using the stratified random sampling method, and participation was voluntary. 925 respondents from the cities Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Faridabad were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Statistical tools such as chi-square, factor analysis, ANOVA, and the Bonferroni test were used to attain final empirical results and to know the comparison of food retailer strategies with the customer’s choice of retailer.     

Retail buyer segmentation based on the use of assortment decision factors

The purpose of this study is to provide detailed information about apparel retail buyers' buying behaviors based on their use of assortment decision factors. After interviews with five retail buyers and merchandisers, surveys were conducted in Seoul, South Korea for this exploratory study. Apparel retail buyers, merchandisers, and retail store owners, who are involved in assortment planning and buying, participated in the survey (N=378). Results of factor analysis created seven assortment decision factor groups. Based on the factor groups, four cluster groups were the best cluster result: (1) Least Factor Use Buyers, (2) Traditional Factor Use Buyers, (3) Consumer-Oriented Buyers, and (4) Most Factor Use Buyers. Because this study used convenience and snowball sampling methods in one country, the findings cannot be generalized to the general population of apparel retail buyers and merchandisers. However, the study provides researchers with planning factors and cluster information for retail buying behavior. The results offer insight to buyers for their decision-making by organizing assortment decision factors from the most to the least important, especially for younger buyers, who need guidance about assortment planning. Although assortment planning and trade-off decisions are known to be extremely important to retail success (e.g., Kok et al., 2008), no previous study identified a typology of retail buyers on the basis of their consideration of assortment decision factors. This study adds new information and confirms the application of traditional assortment decision factors from 1980s and 1990s to post-2008 era.     

Retailers with traits of consumer: Exploring the existence and antecedents of brand loyalty in small unorganized retailers

Retail in most emerging countries, like India, is dominated by the informal sector consisting of small unorganized retailers and marketers selling through them desperately want to win them over because it can be a powerful competitive advantage in these markets.Small unorganized retail store is a unique setting because most of these stores are owned and managed by individual proprietors who are neither schooled in systematic business decision making and nor have access to professional expertise and scientific tools to assist in taking business decisions in a systematic way. With loads of decisions to be made by this individual, it can be assumed that heuristics and common sense drive a lot of their business decisions and this makes them very similar to the decision making done by the end consumers, who also engage in buying decisions but are not scientific in their approach.Based on this similarity, this study attempts to explore a simple but profound question that like individual consumers, do these retail customers’ buying decisions also get affected by brand loyalty? In that direction, the study assesses the role of three variables - salesperson quality, self-experience with the brand and perceived company support, for predicting brand loyalty in small unorganized retailers.Using Structured Equation Modelling on data collected from 543 retailers, the proposed hypothesized paths have been tested. The results strongly support the proposition made. This study extends the application of the existing attitudinal – behavioural framework of brand loyalty to retailers and puts forward a vital and a unique way for marketers to get these retailers on-board and work as an influencer to push their brand.     

Why Do Local South Korean Market Leaders Supply Retailer Grocery Brands?

This article examines why many of the leading South Korean brand manufacturers produce retailer brand products within their major product categories. The reasons identified include pressure from retailers, protection of other national brand product ranges, maintenance or improvements in working relationships, protection of other distribution channels, savings in marketing budgets, diversification of product lines, and changing competitive structures. Evidence is also provided of the dynamic nature of decision making relating to retail brand supply across the whole portfolio of brands which the manufacturer offers, rather than in respect of individual product brands or markets, the focus of much existing work.     

Retail Buying in the United Kingdom

Retail buying in the United Kingdom has undergone considerable change in the last 20 years. Faced with a lack of satisfactory published material concerning what retail buyers actually do, the author carried out a survey of buyers in multiple food and apparel retailers. This paper discusses the main changes to have taken place in retail buying in recent years, describes what buyers do, their interface with other functional departments in the business, the characteristics needed by successful buyers, and how buyers are appraised. Finally, it is concluded that the perceived status of buyers does not always reflect their impact on the marketing activity and success of their companies.     

“Showrooming” in Consumer Electronics Retailing: An Empirical Study

The present study focuses on multichannel retailing strategies and describes the state of consumer behavior regarding “showrooming” (the practice of examining merchandise or products in a retail store and then buying it online). Founded on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the authors examine the antecedents of showrooming using data collected from a sample of 176 retail consumers. Based on their results, they define perceived control, website compatibility, and subjective norms as the main antecedents of consumer attitudes toward online purchases. Additionally, they state that previous experience and reasons against purchasing online are directly associated with consumers’ intention to purchase on the retailer’s website. Finally, some theoretical conclusions and practical implications for retailers are discussed.     

Retailer Dynamic Pricing and Ordering Decisions: Category Management versus Brand-by-Brand Approaches

This paper provides a framework for retailer pricing and ordering decisions in a dynamic category management setting. In this regard, the key contributions of this paper are as follows. First, we develop a multi-brand ordering and pricing model that endogenizes retailer forward buying and maximizes profitability for the category. The model considers (i) manufacturer trade deals to retailers, (ii) ordering costs incurred by the retailer, (iii) retailer forward buying behavior, and (iv) both own- and cross-price effects of all the brands in the category. Second, we use this model to compare differences in ordering and pricing decisions, and in profits, resulting from using a category management versus a brand-by-brand management approach. Our approach allows us to derive implications in a dynamic setting about the impact of interdependence among the brands upon decisions on pass-through of trade deals and retailer order quantity. We show that category management results in noticeably higher profits versus brand-by-brand and cost-plus (markup) approaches. Further, our results suggest an interaction between a brand's own-price effect and its cross-price effect emerges. If the cross-price effect for a brand is low - that is, the brand takes away relatively few sales from the other brands - the retail pass-through should increase with that brand's own-price effect. On the other hand, when the cross-price effect is high, the retail pass-through decreases with the brand's own-price effect.     

零售业顾客缺货反应研究评述

零售业主要是销售消费用品,直接面向终端顾客。关于缺货反应的研究,对后期的零售业具有重大的借鉴意义。缺货问题涉及供应链管理、顾客关系管理等诸多方面,它的研究对制造商、经销商、零售商都有很大的指导作用。否则,商品缺货可能导致零售门店损失销售额,也会削弱消费者对零售商和缺货商品品牌的信赖。     

Child socialization practices: Implications for retailers in emerging markets

Considering the unprecedented growth in the active role of children in the modern market place the present paper attempts to understand the potential of kids as consumers in an emerging retail market. The exploratory study uses a quota sample of 136 urban Indian parents to assess their attitude towards parenting and child socialization along with their preferences for retail formats while buying across select children׳s product categories. The empirical evidences of the research established the active and positive role of the urban Indian parents in the child׳s consumer socialization process and acknowledge the growing status of a child as an influencer and independent buyer with respect to select product categories in the market. The study reiterates on the positive correlation between the child׳s age and the strength of his influence on family purchase decisions. The paper significantly contributes with its insights on contemporary consumers to aid retailers with relevant marketing knowledge pertaining to the market of children and their parents in emerging India.     

The impact of retail buyer innovativeness on suppliers’ adaptive selling in Japanese buyer–supplier relationships

Abstract

We investigate the critical role of retail buyer innovativeness in Japanese buyer–supplier relationships and explore its link to suppliers’ adaptive selling, cooperative relationships, and retail competitiveness. Further, we examine how process conflict between merchandizing and store divisions moderates the relationship between retail buyer innovativeness and suppliers’ adaptive selling. This study employs a structural equation model using survey data from 246 heads of merchandizing divisions at Japanese retail companies. Our findings highlight the importance of both mitigating process conflict and facilitating suppliers’ adaptive selling in order to improve Japanese retailers’ competitiveness, especially when buyers are highly innovative.     

When do B2B brands influence the decision making of organizational buyers? An examination of the relationship between purchase risk and brand sensitivity

The dominant perspective on organizational buying behavior suggests that buyers tend to rely on objective criteria when making product choice decisions and that the potential influence of subjective cues, such as brands, on buyer decision making decreases with increasing risk. An alternative perspective, confirmed in this study by in-depth interviews with various managers, suggests that brands serve as a risk-reduction heuristic, whereby the influence of brands on decision making increases as a function of risk. Building on risk and information processing theories, this research builds on these complementary perspectives to propose that risk and brand sensitivity relate in a U-shaped manner, where brand sensitivity is highest in relatively low- or high-risk situations. The results of scenario- and survey-based field studies—involving 206 and 180 members of buying centers, respectively—suggest that both perspectives have merit and support the proposed nonlinear relationship. Moreover, the findings reveal that the risk-brand sensitivity relationship is moderated by competitive intensity, such that the linear (negative) and quadratic (positive) effects are stronger when competitive intensity is low.     

Segmentation of impulse buyers in an emerging market – An exploratory study

Impulse buying promises to be a dominant buying behaviour in the highly conducive environment of emerging markets like India. However, existing research in these markets is largely within the context of product or market driven factors with inadequate focus on psychological exploration. The present study emphasizes on the role of an individual with underlying personality trait of impulse buying tendency being the focal point of the planned investigation. It uses the knowledge of impulse buying tendency and its contextual indicators as an effective taxonomical tool to profile the retail consumers’ psychologically and capture their demographic diversity. The analysis identifies and profiles three distinct impulse buying consumer segments: proactive impulsive, hesitant-hedonist and pragmatic-rationalist; thus providing manufacturers and retailers an effective marketing tool to address different consumer groups.