Understanding the Impact of Brand Delistings on Assortment Evaluations and Store Switching and Complaining Intentions

Recently, retailers have begun considering which brands they can delist without reducing customer satisfaction, losing category sales, or increasing store switching behavior. Although several studies have considered assortment reductions, none has explicitly investigated the impact of total brand delistings. Therefore, the authors study the impact of brand delistings on assortment evaluations and store switching and complaining intentions. They execute both a controlled experiment and a survey and find that brand delisting mainly has negative consequences when the delisted brands have high equity, assortment size is limited, the assortment consists of a low proportion of high-equity brands, and the brand delistings take place in categories with high hedonic levels. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings

Understanding Consumer Reactions to Assortment Unavailability

Iedere klant maakt het wel eens mee in de supermarkt: misgrijpen. In sommige gevallen is een product tijdelijk niet beschikbaar, bijvoorbeeld doordat de supermarkt de vraag naar een bepaald artikel onderschat heeft. In andere gevallen is een product voor langere tijd niet beschikbaar, bijvoorbeeld als een retailer besloten heeft een assortiment in te krimpen of een merk te boycotten. Uit consumentenonderzoek blijkt dat out-of-stock en artikelsaneringen hoog op de lijst van consumentenergernissen staan. In dit proefschrift wordt via drie empirische studies onderzocht hoe consumenten reageren in gevallen waar het geprefereerde product niet beschikbaar is. Zowel out-of-stock als assortimentsreducties leiden tot klaaggedrag, lageAny regular grocery shopper will be familiar with the annoying situation in which his or her preferred product is not available at the moment (s) he wants to buy it. Assortment unavailability can be temporary (e.g., out-of-stock) or permanent in nature (e.g., assortment reduction). Shopper research shows that the unavailability of products is one of the most significant annoyances for grocery shoppers. This dissertation presents three empirical studies that research consumer reactions to out-of-stock and assortment reduction. Both out-of-stock and assortment reduction lead to consumer complaining behavior, category sales losses and store switching behavior. It is found that consumer reactions to assortment unavailability are mainly related to brand- and product-related antecedents of the item that is not available. Furthermore, the long-term impact of an assortment reduction on category sales differs from the short-term impact. In summary, this dissertation concludes that retailers should be very careful reducing assortments and boycotting brands

The impact of hard discounter presence on store satisfaction and store loyalty

Hard discounters, such as Aldi and Lidl, have become more important in the last decade. Recent research suggests that the presence of a hard discounter (HD) decreases customers' share of wallet. In this study, we aim to understand why this occurs, by considering how HD presence affects store attributes and store satisfaction. In particular, we investigate whether HD presence affects store satisfaction formation as well as the effect of store satisfaction on share of wallet. We analyze Dutch data on store attribute evaluations, store satisfaction and share of wallet. Our results show that HD presence decreases convenience evaluations of a store, satisfaction and share of wallet. Moreover, we show that the relationship between convenience and store satisfaction becomes more important when a HD is present, while we then also find a stronger positive relationship between satisfaction and share of wallet. Simulations based on our model estimations show that especially price-oriented retailers should fear decreases in share of wallet when a HD is present

Reflections and Predictions on Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Retailing

Purpose: The Covid-19 pandemic has a strong effect on societies, business and consumers. Governments have taken measures to reduce the spread of the pandemic, such as social distancing and lock-downs. The latter has also resulted in temporary closure of physical stores for ‘non-essential’ retailing. Covid-19 thus has a profound impact on how people live. The period of relative isolation, social distancing and economic uncertainty changes the way we behave. New consumer behaviors span all areas of life, from how we work to how we shop to how we entertain ourselves. These shifts have important implications for retailers. This paper discusses potential structural effect on shopping behavior and retailing when Covid-19 measures are no longer needed and society moves back to a normal situation. Design/methodology/approach: The paper synthesizes empirical and conceptual literature on the consequences of COVID-19 and introduces a conceptual framework along with a set of predictions that can be investigated with empirical data. Findings: We suggest that Covid-19 shapes both consumer needs and behavior and how retailers respond to these changes. Moreover, we suggest that this will affect market outcomes (i.e. retail sales, market share online), but also firm outcomes (i.e. customer experience, firm sales) and importantly the competition between online and offline retailers. Originality/value: In our conceptual framework, we aim to advance knowledge on longer-term outcomes (vs immediate outcomes such as panic buying) and how COVID-19 is changing the competitive landscape of retail

The Moderating Roles of Relationship Quality and Dependency in Retailers’ New Product Adoption Decisions

This study contributes to the retail adoption literature by explicitly focusing on the role of both profit-related and relationship variables in explaining new product adoption decisions by retailers, instead of considering either one of these groups of variables in isolation as has been done by previous retail adoption studies. Moreover, it specifically addresses how both relationship quality and a retailer’s dependence on the manufacturer moderate the effect of profit drivers. Using a sample of 392 new product adoption decisions by four Dutch retailers, the authors estimate a random effects logit model to explain adoption decisions. The results show significant positive main effects of gross margin, consumer support, product uniqueness, relationship quality and the retailer’s dependency on the manufacturer on the adoption decision. Moreover, the authors find that improved relationship quality tends to reduce the importance of both gross margin and consumer support in the adoption decision process, but surprisingly leads to a stronger impact of trade support. The moderating effect of the retailer’s dependence on the manufacturer also differs between profit drivers, such that it decreases the positive impact of gross margin, consumer support and product uniqueness, and it increases the negative effect of store brand cannibalization

The impact of brand and category characteristics on consumer stock-out reactions

We develop two models to test hypotheses on the specific impact of brand and category characteristics on consumer stock-out responses. Our empirical results show that both characteristics are important determinants. Consumers are more product loyal in hedonic product groups than in utilitarian product groups and consumers are more brand loyal to high equity brands than to low equity brands. Brand loyalty is especially strong for high equity brands in hedonic product groups. Our study also confirms findings from prior research on OOS reactions. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings of the study are discussed