Digitalization changes both buying processes and sales processes and, consequently, the dynamics and division of work between buyers and suppliers in the supply chain. This has major implications for ...industrial marketing and supply chain management. In this study, we analyze the impact of sales configurators, which are used to create valid configurations of market offerings that fulfill customer requirements. The usefulness of sales configurators can be investigated from both the sellers' and buyers' perspectives. In this research, we focus on the latter, and we specifically investigate the antecedents of customers' acceptance of sales configurators in a supply chain. In our analysis, we concentrate on system-level antecedents, which have been neglected by the existing literature. Our research yields better knowledge of how digital sales technologies can be used by customers for improved effectiveness and perceived value. The results demonstrate that ease of use and system adaptability contribute strongly to the perceived effectiveness, and eventually to the perceived usefulness, of sales configurators. Yet, surprisingly, perceived enjoyment is identified as having the most significant effect on perceived usefulness.
•The research investigates the usefulness of sales force automation (SFA) tools from a customer perspective in a supply chain.•A structural equation model of perceived usefulness was developed and tested using PLS-SEM.•The results illustrate how SFA usefulness can be realized from the customers' point of view.•The results also highlight the central role of perceived enjoyment in customers' adoption of SFA tools.
Consultants and pundits assert that the business-to-business (B2B) buying process has changed markedly in recent years due to the emergence of online, digital applications and software. Recognizing ...that impactful, and truly innovative future research is perhaps best created when built on the foundation of past science, we review the arc of B2B buying process modeling from 1956 to the present. Our goals with this research are to: 1. capture the genealogy and evolution of thinking across the years in terms of foundation theories, reasoning approach, types of models, factors researched, and journals in which articles were published, 2. identify the thematic inflection points in the research stream that have led to the current conceptualizations, and 3. suggest a research agenda for the future. We discovered that academic understanding of the B2B buying process has progressed in waves featuring seven themes – transactions, situations, influences, responses, relationships, networks and journeys. Looking to the future, we recommend that scholars examine five areas of research: the impact of technology, modes of customer and supplier interaction, decision-making approaches, tensions between internal and external communities, and B2B marketing analytics.
•There are seven thematic inflection points in the B2B buying process research stream.•The research waves have moved from transactions, situations, influences, responses, relationships, networks and journeys.•Scholars in the future should examine key issues of the impact of technology on the B2B buying process.
The present study synthesized the extant literature on electronic shopping cart abandonment (ESCA) for the last 22 years (2000–2022) using the PRISMA approach. This is one of the first studies that ...comprehensively synthesized the widely applied theories in the ESCA literature and the reasons for ESCA during the various stages of online shopping process (search stage, consideration stage, evaluation stage, and purchase stage). The findings suggest that Stimulus Organism Response theory, Cognitive Dissonance theory, and the Theory of Reasoned Action are the most prominent theories used in the ESCA literature. Further, customers abandon the electronic shopping cart due to several personal factors (e.g., trust, experience), website features (e.g., perceived behavioral tracking), and product attributes (e.g., perceived service quality). This study gives a snapshot of knowledge gaps in the ESCA domain and suggests future research directions from multifarious perspectives i.e., theoretical underpinnings, contexts, and customer characteristics. For marketers, it provides insights on factors affecting ESCA at each stage of the online shopping process to develop stage wise pragmatic strategies like gamification on shopping websites, improving navigational aspects on websites, removing threats to customer privacy, and creating greater transparency to increase customer trust.
Given the complexity (e.g., digitization, customization, and scale) of modern business solutions, salespeople increasingly seek to influence the pre-planning stages of buyer decision making to ...increase effectiveness. During the early stage of organizational buying, salespeople can align their firm's capabilities and expertise by offering input on problem definition, before a solution is sought. However, surprisingly little is known about the role of salespeople in the period before a buying firm decides to officially address a problem and seek vendor solutions. Thus, our research focuses on the inclusion of both incumbent salespeople (strong ties to the buying organization) and non-incumbent salespeople (limited, or non-existent, ties to the buying organization) in pre-decision phase information sourcing of buyers. Drawing upon theory from social network and problem solving literatures, we develop a contingency model to illustrate pre-decision phase conditions based on problem framing, structure, and urgency that make incumbent or non-incumbent salespeople more likely to be sources of information. We test our hypotheses across a series of scenario-based experimental studies conducted with purchasing managers. Our findings suggest situations where incumbent and non-incumbent salespeople have a greater likelihood of being positioned to engage in pre-decision stage planning with customers.
Study Frame:•Incumbent and non-incumbent salespeople.•Pre-decision stage of Organizational Purchasing Process.•Network, Problem-solving, and Decision-Making Theoretical Basis.Study Type:•4 Study Scenario-based Experimental Design.•Studies conducted with 324 purchasing professionals.Contribution•Address the lack of research on the pre-decision stage of organizational buying.•Fills a gap on how salespeople can develop their inclusion in the pre-decision stage of defining business problems.•Takes a purchaser view of the organizational buying process, via scenario based experiments.•Addresses the call of Paesbrugghe et al. (2018) on how salespeople can prepare best for the “sales call,” and when preparation really starts.•Addresses the call of Paesbrugghe et al. (2018) on how do we better understand the purchasing function•Addresses the call of Paesbrugghe et al. (2018) on how the selling center learns about and affects important buying criteria.•Incumbent reps are consulted in the pre-decision stage when buyer problems are framed as gain, well-structured and urgent.•Non-incumbent reps are included in the pre-decision stage when buyer problems are framed as a loss and are ill-structured.
Purpose
This study aims to explore if and how business-to-business (B2B) companies can use social media to influence the buying process.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses an exploratory ...approach into the existing literature related to the B2B buying process and its relationship with social media.
Findings
The study shows that companies in a B2B context can use social media as a means of influencing the stages of the buying process by means of using one or more of the seven functional blocks of social media.
Research limitations/implications
The findings demonstrate the relation that exists between each stage of the buyer process in a B2B organization and the functional blocks of social media. This study opens the door for further research into the influence of each of these blocks on the buying process stages and the roles involved.
Practical implications
This study identifies how social media’s blocks influence the different stages and how organizations can use that to their benefit.
Originality/value
Few studies have investigated the use of social media in a B2B context. However, not many have looked into the influence of social media in the B2B buying process and buying center. This study looks into the relationship between the buying process stages and social media’s functional blocks as related to the different roles of the buying center.
The COVID-19 pandemic's disruption and ultimate lasting impact on the business world is unprecedented. While there has been much discussion about the specific impact that COVID-19 has had on ...salespeople and sales organizations as a whole, very little academic investigation has been focused on the impact of the pandemic in terms of the 'other side' of the buyer-salesperson dyad-namely, B2B buyers. This research aims to fill this void by providing initial insights into the changes that have emerged post COVID-19 in B2B buyer decision-making. Using qualitative interviews and an exploratory survey (with the goal of generalizing the initial findings across industries and contexts), our findings suggest that significant changes have emerged in the areas of (1) the organizational buying process, (2) how buyers source information, and (3) how buyers and salespeople interact. We expand on these core themes via a list of more detailed subthemes. The results serve as a catalyst for new and relevant avenues for sales related research regarding B2B in the new normal. Consequently, extensive future research directions are proposed.
In both traditional and digital channels, the marketing function aims at devising and implementing appropriate strategies and tactics for each stage consumers go through when they are considering a ...purchase. In the digital environment, brands interact with consumers with use of digital touchpoints, the growing number of which hinders effective and efficient coordination of marketing activities. The present research aims at investigating consumers’ perceived reliance on alternative digital touchpoints throughout the consumer buying process, and examining the impact of personal characteristics and type of digital device used on consumer perceptions. Results from a non-probability sample of 92 consumers showed that participants exhibit increased reliance on corporate websites, online stores, Instagram, web enquiries and YouTube during their buying journey. However, it appears that consumer reliance on digital touchpoints is affected by personal characteristics, such as biological sex and generation. Female consumers report increased reliance on Instagram to identify potential needs whereas males depend on YouTube during most stages of decision making. Lastly, consumers who belong in younger generations report greater reliance on digital touchpoints than older consumers. Overall, identification of differences in user preferences of digital touchpoints facilitates digital marketing planning and targeting of distinct segments with appropriate tactics.
With the advent of the Internet, consumer buying process has changed dramatically. Consumer’s buying habits are influenced by digital medium to a large extent. Online peer reviews, which are also ...known as Zero Moment of Truth (ZMoT) play a significant role in deciding whether to buy or not buy from a particular brand. This study investigates the consumer buying decision process in smartphone purchase decision. Triggered by stimulus, ZMoT and the subsequent stages are analyzed to find out relative importance of each stage in consumer buying decision in now always-connected digitized world. The survey was conducted against 241 Turkish smartphone owners residing in Istanbul, who have made a purchase in the last six months. An analysis is made to assess the relative importance of each stage in the buying process according to different demographic factors. The results indicate the key role of ZMoT among all stages in consumer buying process. The results also demonstrate ZMoT is more influential in some of the demographic factors.
This article contributes to the study of information sourcing behavior in the travel decision process. It focuses on the differences between information sourcing before and after a definite trip ...decision (characterized either by an irreversible choice with regard to destination or by a legal contract such as a reservation or purchase of one or multiple elements of a trip). The study identifies typical patterns of information search behavior for different travel types, grouped by means of clusters along two stages of the information sourcing process, thus forming paths of information sourcing. The data are representative for the case of Switzerland, serving as a model for a well-developed travel market. Descriptors such as type of trip, degree of packaging, choice of destination, and choice of accommodation showed significant explanatory power, while sociodemographic variables proved to be of less value. The results give the industry the possibility of improving information distribution systems throughout the travel decision process.
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