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.     

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.     

How buyers frame problems: Revisited

This article investigates the following propositions: a useful approach for building an organizational‐buying–behavior taxonomy might begin with classifying how buyers frame purchasing problems followed by how such frames affect subsequent perceptions and actions in the decision process. Unlike previous taxonomies of buying situations, direct questioning of organizational buyers is used to learn: (1) whether or not they identify different categories of buying problems; (2) if they do, what dimensions they use when framing buying problems; and (3) how do such frames influence their choices of value‐added service alternatives offered by suppliers. To test the propositions empirically, supplier choices are modeled with the use of buying‐decision exercises. A key result of this study is that the buyers’ framing of problems affects their preferences for vendor designs of value‐added customer services. Most likely, the framing of buying problems by organizational buyers is layered and more complex than related taxonomies found in the marketing literature. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The delisting of products by retail buyers

The main aim of the research reported here is to identify any patterns in the delisting behaviour of retail buyers, where a delisted product is defined as one which is removed from sale by a retailer but which continues to be sold by other retailers. The influence of the retail buyer in the marketing of consumer products has become ever more significant. Much academic research into retail buying has aimed at identifying criteria that affect purchasing decisions but few generalizable findings have emerged due to the context‐specific nature of such decision making. In this research a specific context is chosen, that of the de‐selection or delisting of products, a topic that has received little attention to date.

The results of interviews with 125 buyers, working for large and small retailers, on their reasons for 290 examples of product delistings are reported. The influence of more detailed contextual variables such as the buyer's age, experience and qualification, the product type, and the source of the product are examined together with a number of reasons for delisting the product. Many of these contextual variables, particularly the size of the retail business and whether the buyer had experience of working in a retail outlet, correlated widely with the relative importance of decision variables. Buyers working for smaller retailers tended to delist because of low sales volumes. Nett profitability, the reason why products should be delisted, was rarely cited as a major criterion.

More detailed analysis of the data set using factor and cluster analysis revealed that delisting decisions could be categorized into two types, each defined by combinations of contextual and decision variables. The most important variables in distinguishing between the two types of decisions were the buyer's age and experience as a buyer (contextual variables) and the decision criteria of nett margin being too low or the selling price to the retailer being too high. Younger, less experienced buyers were more likely to delist products because of low nett margins and high buying prices. Older, more experienced buyers were likely to delist for reasons other than these. The implications for retailers and for their suppliers of both the major and minor findings from the study are discussed.     

Identifying Ethical Problems Confronting Small Retail Buyers During the Merchandise Buying Process

This research was designed to develop an inventory of vendor-related problems experienced by buyers for small retail apparel stores during the merchandise buying process, determine how frequently each difficulty occurs, and identify the experiences perceived to be unethical. Among the 22 vendor-related difficulties examined minimum order requirements, 6 month advance purchase, incomplete orders, late shipments, and shipping overcharges were identified most frequently. Analysis of results suggested that one factor, misleading vendor practices, and eight background variables (annual sales, price line, full- and part-time employees, retail and buying experience, and shopping large or small markets) were associated with unethical experiences. Ethically troublesome experiences mentioned most frequently were padded orders, selling competitor same merchandise, withholding return authorization and credit, shipping overcharges, and dealing with vendor's factor.     

A Neurological Study of Compulsive Buying Behaviour

The following article describes a study of the neural correlates of compulsive buying. Twenty-six non-compulsive (“normal”) and 23 compulsive buyers were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing purchasing decisions. The compulsive buyers were selected based on strict criteria, such that they were all undergoing psychotherapeutic treatment due to their buying behaviour. The results show evidence of significant differences between non-compulsive and compulsive buyers regarding brain activity in regions known to be involved in decision making. The findings give a deeper insight into the nature of compulsive buying and are relevant to consumer policy.     

The Big Five dyad congruence and compulsive buying: A case of service encounters

This research examines how the Big Five personality congruence between buyers and sellers influences compulsive buying in a dyadic service encounter. We gathered 904 buyer-seller data and computed personality congruence using the difference score technique. The study findings manifested that buyer-seller congruence in agreeableness and openness increases compulsive buying behavior, whereas buyer-seller congruence in neuroticism decreases this behavior. Further analysis showed that pleasure enhancement dampens the negative impact of neurotic congruence on compulsive buying. In contrast, stimulation enhancement strengthens the positive influence of open-minded congruence on compulsive buying. Conclusively, compulsive buyers exhibit varying buying behaviors based on their personality congruence (incongruence) with their corresponding sellers'. Hence, marketing managers should create similar (dissimilar) buyer-seller pairs to boost firms' sales.     

Does excessive buying for self relate to spending on pets?

Using two studies, this article explores how a tendency to buy excessively for self relates to spending on one's pet. Existing research on excessive buying reports that these buyers spend money primarily on themselves. Excessive buying is the tendency to be preoccupied with buying and, consequently, to buy relatively more and more often than others. The first study, using a qualitative research approach, provides insights into the relationship of excessive buying for self and for pets. This study reveals that excessive buyers consider their pets as full family members and extensions of themselves. The second study, a national survey conducted via the Internet, provides a quantitative test of the relationship between excessive buying for self and spending on pets. Respondents who score high on an excessive buying index also tend to spend more on their pets for toys, food treats, clothing, accessories, and grooming 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.     

动态定价团购模式下消费者参团行为研究

随着在线电子商务的发展,团购成为现代生活的重要部分。为了吸引更多的消费者参团,各网站推出了许多新的团购模式,包括天猫事业部推出的动态定价团购,即商品价格随着人数增加而降低。有研究发现,动态定价团购存在价格下降效应——价格下降前一定参团人数规模阈值内,参团人数激增,而价格下降后一定参团规模阈值内,参团人数下降。文章针对这一现象,模拟三级价格阶梯动态团购模式,设计网络团购行为实验,研究价格比较和虚幻的控制感对参团行为的作用机制。结果表明,当价格快要下降时,控制感越强越能吸引到更多的消费者。文章对电子商务平台调整团购机制,卖家确定定价策略给出了指导性建议,更好地理解价格变动在吸引消费者时的作用。     

Benchmarking buyer behavior towards new brands

New brand launches are risky endeavors for marketers, as many fail to attract a sustainable customer base. This research examines the buying behavior of customers acquired by a new brand and revisits the theoretical norms of the NBD-Dirichlet model benchmarks. Investigating 40 new brand launches in the UK, across a wide range of brand and category conditions, we find that in the first 12 months, new launches have more, but less loyal buyers than expected from NBD-Dirichlet benchmarks, irrespective of type, price point, or the sales gained by the new launch. Further we find exploratory evidence that new buyers of brands have weaker associations than existing buyers. We propose that the combination of the new experience that lacks distinctiveness in encoding means that the experience of buying the new brand creates weaker memory traces in new buyers and that these buyers need additional marketing reinforcement to consolidate the memory of buying the brand to establish the brand in their ongoing repertoire.     

Credit Card Use and Compulsive Buying Behavior

ABSTRACT

Compulsive buying behavior is a negative form of behavior that leads to overspending. In the current study, the author examines the applicability of a compulsive buying behavior scale developed by Valence et al. (1988) with Indian consumers. Compulsive buyers are likely to relate money to power, success, and status. Compulsive buyers perceive their purchases as a way of overcoming negative self-esteem and anxiety. The influence of consumers’ attitude toward credit cards, demographic factors, and credit card use on compulsive buying was studied. The findings suggest the compulsive behavior scale should be modified in the Indian context. Age, income, education, and marital status influence compulsive buying. Consumers’ attitude toward credit cards did not affect compulsive buying.     

Organisation and Control in Retail Buying Groups

Retail alliances are a mechanism which enables small and medium retail businesses to compete with corporate retail chains. Alliances face different organisational problems from those of corporate chains because of the need to ensure convergence of interests between the individual member and the organisation as a whole. This paper examines how retail buying groups organise in terms of membership structures, control mechanisms, incentive structures and management systems to meet these needs. A study of retail buying groups in the United Kingdom is reported. Results show that these groups are not mirror images of corporate retail chains but vehicles to preserve the independence of their members through voluntary participation and democratic control structures.     

Customers on the web are not all created equal: the moderating role of internet shopping experience

Consumers' previous shopping experience has been found to be an important influence on future shopping intentions. Prior internet shopping experience, however, has been largely overlooked as a moderator of attitudes and online-retail outcomes. Specifically, key influences on online retail buying behavior such as site reputation, advertising likeability, site security and hedonic and utilitarian shopping values can be expected to have differential effects on intentions to repatronize an e-commerce website based on the level of internet shopping experience by prospective buyers. This study proposes and tests an integrated model in which level of prior internet shopping experience is treated as a moderator of relationships among attitudinal variables and repatronage intentions with the variable attitude toward the site as a mediator of buying intentions. Findings are consistent with the proposed model with an interesting exception. Perceptions of site security were in the opposite direction of the model prediction. Managerial and theoretical implications are provided for consideration.     

Purchasing veg private labels? A comparison between occasional and regular buyers

Retailers are increasingly extending their private label assortments with meat-substitute, vegetarian and vegan foods (here called veg foods) to respond to emerging consumer trends. However, no studies on consumer buying behavior with regard to veg private labels exist. Accordingly, this work analyses the impact of ethical motives (i.e., environmental, animal welfare, health, and spiritual concerns) and perceptual factors (i.e., trust, perceived quality, and perceived value) as drivers of consumers' buying intentions of regular and occasional buyers of veg private labels, identified by their purchase frequency. The multigroup structural model findings show that occasional buyers are motivated by perceived quality, environmental, and animal concerns, while regular buyers opt for veg private labels on the grounds of their trust in the retailer's own-brand and environmentally-friendly claims. The perceived value is key for both segments.     

Business Buyer Relationship Management Through Seamless Internet Integration

Abstract

There is a growing need to look specifically at Internet integration into business relationship management tactics, beyond sustaining current customers. The Internet enables active implementation of a business buyer relationship management (BBRM) orientation through the facilitation of information sharing and buyer connectivity across various buying conditions. Using Internet tools, the goal of merely sustaining present buyers now appears insufficient. BBRM takes into account that these tools must be effectively utilized across a variety of buying situations including how sellers and buyers come together, stay together and inevitably remake their business relationships endure. BBRM makes effective use of Internet technologies despite various buying situations to enable seller-buyer relationship formation, maintenance and long-term continuation.     

Consumers' and retailers' practices and attitudes towards energy-efficient clothing

The purpose of this study was to compare the extent to which consumers and retailers consider energy efficiency in evaluating and selecting indoor sportswear. Little research has been conducted in which retail buyers are subjects; no published research has focused on a comparison of consumers and merchants in regard to their attitudes towards a specific product. The value of such research lies in determining whether a particular consumer need is being met. The results of the present study revealed that retail buyers were less concerned about energy-efficient clothing than were consumers. Significant differences were found between the two groups for four of the nine variables studied. In all cases, consumers gave greater consideration to the energy efficiency of indoor sportswear than retail buyers believed. Further investigation of differences in consumers' and retailers' attitudes and practices is needed.     

Private Label Development: The Large Food Retailer Faced with the Supplier's Opportunism

For the last 20 years, large food retailers have had an important place in fast-moving consumer good sales. This article describes their buying strategies, focusing on supplier selection in the case of private label contracts. It introduces the concept of opportunism to explain recent and probably irreversible developments in retail buying organisations, integrating a growing number of technologists and scientists. New businesses, with close relationships to industrial purchasing, have appeared in the retailing industry. In the end, they will require a new ‘species’ of managers, able to simultaneously monitor logistical, technical and commercial interfaces between large food retailers and their private label producers.     

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.