The moderating effects of gender and inside versus outside sales role in multifaceted job satisfaction

Two key trends in B2B sales organizations are increased representation by females in sales roles and a shift toward more inside sales positions than has been true in the past. Prior work on multifaceted job satisfaction among salespeople has not fully taken these elements into account. This study furthers the literature by examining the moderating role of gender and inside versus outside sales role on multifaceted job satisfaction. Results provide opportunity for provocative discussion among sales organizational leadership of more customized approaches to improve the satisfaction of the sales force.     

Collaborative intelligence: How human and artificial intelligence create value along the B2B sales funnel

The B2B sales process is undergoing substantial transformations fueled by advances in information and communications technology, specifically in artificial intelligence (AI). The premise of AI is to turn vast amounts of data into information for superior knowledge creation and knowledge management in B2B sales. In doing so, AI can significantly alter the traditional human-centric sales process. In this article, we describe how AI affects the B2B sales funnel. For each stage of the funnel, we describe key sales tasks, explain the specific contributions AI can bring, and clarify the role humans play. We also outline managerial considerations to maximize the contributions from AI and people in the context of B2B sales.     

The Outlook for European Grocery Retailing: Competition and Format Development

This article analyses retail trends in the main European countries, and particularly format evolution and competition amongst retailing firms. On the basis of the existence of European retailing landscapes that are sometimes similar without ever being identical, the article analyses the impact of the main factors of change on different national markets. Whilst retail internationalisation and new entrants, commercial policy, legislative environments, technological innovations, consumers and buying behaviour will have a convergence effect on different countries' retail structures, substantial differences will still exist. European retailing in the coming years will probably be characterized by increasingly less marked differences between countries than one finds today, but market segmentation, variety and differentiation of retailing formats and brand names will be stronger within each country.     

The integrated use of social media,digital, and traditional communication tools in the B2B sales process of international SMEs

Social media and digital tools are gradually changing the way firms market themselves. Understanding how these communication tools are used by sales functions within business-to-business (B2B) markets could clarify the dynamics underpinning the sales process in an increasingly technology-mediated world. This paper explores how social media, digital, and traditional sales communication tools are leveraged during the three main phases of the B2B sales process within international SMEs.The article’s grounded-theory approach illustrates that social media can be particularly helpful in engaging international prospects. Digital communication tools seem to be most prevalent in the persuasion phase, whereas more traditional communication tools still prevail in customer relationship management. However, there seem to be some important potential boundary conditions, including relationship culture, location proximity, technology innovation/resources, and strategic importance of the customer that affect the way international SMEs use different communication tools during a sales process. We develop a framework for understanding the B2B sales process flow with sales communication tools included for international SMEs.     

Women in sales in developing countries: The value of technology for social impact

Technology is an engine for growth with great potential to transform women’s self-efficacy and social capital. This article focuses on women in sales and sheds light on the intersection of technology, self-efficacy, and social capital in developing countries. The use of technology allows women to transform their social and economic lives by changing and reshaping processes that enable opportunities for growth and development—ultimately offering a bridge to close the many gaps in human socioeconomic development in developing countries. To this end, we offer several recommendations for saleswomen and organizations to expand their application of technological capabilities for product orders, market messaging, and training.     

Corporate entrepreneurship,customer-oriented selling,absorptive capacity,and international sales performance in the international B2B setting: Conceptual framework and research propositions

In the international business-to-business (B2B) setting, a firm's salespeople often have more direct, prolonged, and intimate contact with the customer and market environments than any other employees of the firm. In fact, for customers in many B2B markets, the salesperson is the face of the firm. The sales function can be characterized as an inherently entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurship is founded on knowing or seeing something others do not see, and the sales force has long been recognized as an important source of knowledge about a firm's customers and environment. However, there has been relatively little work linking entrepreneurship to international sales performance, especially in the B2B context.This paper focuses on the intelligence-gathering role of salespeople to firms practicing corporate entrepreneurship in the international B2B setting. More specifically, drawing on the theories of corporate entrepreneurship and the knowledge-based view of the firm, the authors develop a conceptual model that proposes international sales performance for firms practicing corporate entrepreneurship will be enhanced when salespeople practice customer-oriented selling and the firm's absorptive capacity is stronger. Recommended methodology for testing the proposed model is a single-informant survey of sales managers with firms in the domain of interest, using structural equation modeling with moderator tests. The paper concludes with implications and directions for future research.     

B2C跨境电商消费者电子忠诚测度与维护策略

跨境电商发展迅速,跨境零售企业迎来空前的发展机遇。面对竞争激烈的跨境电商零售市场,提升消费者的忠诚度,经营者才可获得稳定的客户资源和持续的竞争力。建立消费者忠诚的测量维度,总结建立和维护消费者忠诚的策略是经营者认识和管理消费者忠诚的基础。     

Bridging the B2C and B2B Research Divide: The Domain of Retailing Literature

As the oldest academic journal in marketing, Journal of Retailing publishes research dealing with all sorts of B2B and B2C retailing-related topics. However, there appears to be a perception that Journal of Retailing welcomes only research pertaining to B2C issues. In this article, we debunk that perception through an analysis of the content of Journal of Retailing articles published during the 2002-2008 period. In particular, we find that only 18.7% of Journal of Retailing's content is devoted exclusively to B2C or C2C (consumer-to-consumer) topics. The remainder focuses on B2B research issues. We explore the implications of these findings for researchers who wish to pursue retailing-related B2B research.     

Improving marketing success: The role of tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing

Successful organizations adapt their marketing strategies to marketplace changes. Boundary spanners, such as salespeople, because they are able to embed themselves in social networks outside the organization, play a key role in developing marketplace knowledge. However, if this knowledge remains solely with the boundary spanners, it cannot be used effectively to improve firm performance. This study investigates tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing and its ability to enhance marketing success (i.e., marketing program innovativeness, relative efficiency, and relative effectiveness). In addition, by examining five antecedents hypothesized to influence tacit knowledge exchange, it provides guidance to sales and marketing managers, who desire to improve tacit knowledge exchange, and, in turn, marketing success.     

The Role of Retail Equity,Value and Relational Benefits in Building B2B Relationships in Retailing

Abstract

The present paper aims to examine if variables widely studied in B2C contribute to building strong relationships in B2B markets. Moreover, it analyzes the existence of differences across retailers related to percentage of purchases from the main supplier. Through a personal survey to retail store managers regarding their relationships with their main suppliers, a structural equation model is estimated through PLS to test the hypothesized relations between retail equity, value, relational benefits, trust, and commitment. A multi-group analysis is performed to test the moderating role of the percentage of purchases from the main supplier. Three types of relational benefits identified have unequal influence on relationship value. In particular, special treatment benefits and social benefits, together with retail equity, emerge as the main drivers of value in the relationship between retailers and their main suppliers. The percentage of purchases from the main supplier plays a moderating role in some of these relations. This research provides evidence in the sense that, in the relations held by retailers with their main suppliers, retail equity contributes to relationship value creation. Relational benefits are relevant in building B2B relations since special treatment and social benefits have a positive influence on value that is positively related to trust and commitment. To build strong relations with their customers, suppliers of retailers should mainly concentrate their efforts on building brand equity and providing evidence of the existence of special treatment benefits beyond the service delivered, in view of its ultimate influence on customer trust and commitment.     

A COOL Effect: The Direct and Indirect Impact of Country-of-Origin Disclosures on Purchase Intentions for Retail Food Products

Retailers recently became required to provide specific country-of-origin information for muscle cuts of beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and goat. Drawing from the consumer inference and activation theory literatures, hypotheses are offered regarding how consumers use country-of-origin labeling (COOL) to draw inferences related to specific product attributes and how these inferences, in turn, lead to differences in mediation effects for purchase intentions. Results from a pilot study and two experiments reveal that consumers are more likely to purchase meat when it is identified as a U.S. product. Furthermore, the relative strength of the mediating effects of perceived food safety, taste, and freshness differs as expected. The authors show how the direct and indirect effects of the country-of-origin disclosure are attenuated by the presentation of objective information about the meat processing systems of competing countries. Given the recently mandated COOL disclosures, results have important implications for food retailers, members of the supply chain, and consumers.     

Disentangling the effect of services on B2B firm value: Trade-offs of sales,profits, and earnings volatility

In the face of declining business and growing pressures from low-cost competitors, many business-to-business (B2B) manufacturers have moved from their previously successful product-centric strategies to more service-oriented business models. Yet despite their substantial investments in services, firms fail to understand the performance ramifications of these offerings. With a longitudinal data set (2001–2016) of 227 B2B manufacturers listed in the S&P 1500 index, this study disentangles the simultaneous effects of financial-based mechanisms that link the service ratio (i.e., share of a firm's revenue generated from selling services) to firm value. The findings reveal significant trade-offs across these mechanisms. Although the service ratio monotonously boosts sales growth, it has U-shaped curvilinear relationships with profitability and earnings volatility. These effects also depend on industry- and firm-level factors. Industry maturity positively moderates the effects of the service ratio on sales growth and profitability. However, business scope has an adverse effect on the service ratio–profitability relationship. Finally, industry turbulence negatively moderates the effect of services on earnings volatility.     

The brand architecture of grocery retailers: Setting material and symbolic boundaries for consumer choice

This article discusses how the brand architecture of grocery retailers set material and symbolic boundaries for consumer choice, thus limiting consumer sovereignty. The article first discusses previous work on store atmospherics, servicescapes and brand architecture. It is argued that work based on these concepts has taken an internal management perspective on how retailers can manipulate aspects of the retail setting to serve their own interests. Then, we develop an alternative conceptualisation of retailer brand architecture that takes into account that consumers (and other constituents) are active co-constructors of material and symbolic aspects of retail settings. It is discussed how consumers participate in constructing retailer brand architecture and how this concept differs from previous research. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.     

Consumer perceptions of risk and uncertainty and the implications for behaviour towards innovative retail services: The case of Internet Banking

Research on the consumer perceptions of innovative offerings has tended to focus on products as opposed to services. Perceived risk has generally not been awarded a major role while uncertainty, which is viewed here as distinct from risk, has for the most part been disregarded. The study reported in this paper strives to identify some of the major risks and uncertainties associated with a new service, Internet Banking, during the early stages of its market development. The empirical research involved a qualitative study of a small sample of consumers and a survey of both adopters and non-adopters of Internet Banking. The survey employed a traditional research instrument, which involved the presentation of pre-identified risks and uncertainties. It was possible to identify several major ‘risks’ as well as ‘uncertainties’. We raise questions about whether or not the anxieties and concerns identified by such a process of consumer research are true reflections of the major influences affecting consumer behaviour towards new retail services. The adoption of a ‘perceived risk’ stance as against one founded on the view that consumers may lack certainty about outcomes and consequences has implications for both theory and practice.     

The Psychological Influences of Threat on B2C E-commerce Adoption: An Extended Study and Explanatory Framework

In order to better understand how internet users actually decide to conduct business transactions or related activities in a B2C e-commerce environment, this article adds a new lens of study by investigating the roles of Threat Appraisal (TA) and Perceived Coping Appraisal (PCA) from the end user's perspective. Based on established academic theories and relevant industrial practices, it is suggested that TA and PCA are critical behavioral components influencing the user's intentions to participate in online transactions. These functions serve as important inputs to formalizing our understanding of how services offered by e-commerce websites are utilized.     

Exploring phygital omnichannel luxury retailing for immersive customer experience: The role of rapport and social engagement

Omnichannel retailing has revolutionized the way retailers create strategies for engaging customers in making purchase decisions. Phygital is a new-age transformative form of omnichannel retailing that emphasizes combining the physical and digital elements, with a particular focus on the human touch to satisfy social and symbolic consumer needs. Extant research has not fully addressed the role of phygital in luxury fashion retail. We explore the research question regarding how human interactions with experienced salespeople add value to the phygital experience. In doing so, we contribute to the luxury marketing literature by addressing the research gap by elucidating the role of phygital functionality in enhancing rapport building, social engagement, and developing trust and commitment, which results in a seamless customer experience, along with enhanced loyalty and patronage. Through 18 in-depth qualitative research interviews conducted with luxury retail managers and senior retail leaders, we provide guidelines to managers and practitioners at retail firms, to create actionable growth-oriented strategies focused on leveraging phygital capabilities.     

The Launching of Transactional Web Sites: Market Response to Announcements by Incumbent B2C Companies

Stock market responses to announcements of transactional Web site launches by business-to-consumer retail outlets are examined. In general, announcements by retail firms yielded positive average abnormal returns (AAR). More specifically, announcements by catalog firms yielded higher AAR than announcements by physical (brick-and-mortar) retail firms. Announcement of portal tenancy also leads to higher AAR for the subsample of firms making such announcements. Responses to announcements of plans to launch transactional Web sites are also explored. The implications of the results for multiple theoretical perspectives are discussed.     

The Potential for Cross-Functional Contributions to B2B E-Commerce Marketing Initiatives: E-Commerce and Purchasing Professionals

ABSTRACT

While there is a great deal of information in the literature linking purchasing personnel with both supply side and distribution side transactions, there is little evidence of their involvement in setting the design and strategic objectives of their own company's e-commerce activities. Yet, these professionals have much to offer marketing personnel who may be charged with developing e-commerce strategy and Websites. This paper suggests a proactive approach that supports the benefits of such cross-disciplinary collaboration between marketing and purchasing professionals within a firm.     

The impact of store hours and redistributive income effects on the retail industry: some projections for Germany

In this paper, the impact of the relaxation of Blue Laws on the retailing industry structure will be examined with regard to the 1996 store-hour expansion in the Federal Republic of Germany.The first part will deal with the historical development of Blue Laws in the US, Canada and the UK. The assessment of Germany's trading time situation and proponents' and opponents' previous arguments about whether or not to implement the proposed legislation will lead to an analysis of relevant conceptual and empirical research to evaluate expected restructuring effects on the German retailing industry.The impact of redistributive effects is determined, predictions with regard to the projected development are established, and directions for future research are generated.     

The Implications of Business-to-Business and Consumer Market Differences for B2B Branding Strategy

By integrating existing conceptual models and research findings, this effort examines the noteworthy differences between the B2B and the consumer market contexts and the implications of those differences on the formulation of B2B brand strategies. We introduce the B2B-Consumer Market Dimensions Continuum as a tool to identify key differences between the two markets. The continuum is used to suggest the branding approach that is most likely to be successful in a B2B organization's brand-building efforts.