“Better Marketplace Equity by improving Channel Equity and Reseller Equity in a Self Relevant and Hedonic Industry”
“Better Marketplace Equity by improving Channel Equity and Reseller Equity in a Self Relevant and Hedonic Industry”
Nannet Boonstra 1333720 RijksUniversiteit Groningen Department of Marketing Master Thesis Groningen, March 25 2010 Vossegatsweg 3 9321 XX Peize Abstract:
Management summary
This study investigates channel equity and reseller equity in a hedonic and self-relevant industry, the hairdressing industry.
The marketplace equity model of Anderson and Narus (2004) is translated into a research specific model. They define channel equity as ‘the value a reseller receives from the channel offering provided by the supplier’. Reseller equity is defined as the value of acquiring a supplier’s offering from a particular reseller versus other authorized resellers in the local trade area.
Theory believes that the antecedents of channel equity are channel incentives (Gilliland, 2004) and self-congruence. Theory believes that the antecedents of reseller equity are the resellers’ competencies (knowledge and skills) and job attitude.
The empirical study for one of the larger cosmetic companies in the world demonstrates that not all theoretical implications apply in this particular situation. Only one of the channel incentives - responsiveness of the supplier - has an effect on satisfaction. Also, self-congruence has an effect on satisfaction but this effect is not as strong as the responsiveness of the supplier.
The reseller’s degree of skills is affected by the degree of knowledge in that area. Further, to a certain degree the degree of knowledge and skills of the owner is transferred to the employee. This effect can be enhanced when the supplier works together with the reseller pro-actively to train owners and employees to share knowledge and skills in a structured way. This can be achieved either by leadership style or by using other management activities. Future detailed research is necessary about this aspect.
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ... 6
1.1. PRACTICAL BACKGROUND ... 6
1.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ... 7
1.2.1 BRAND EQUITY IN A B2B ENVIRONMENT ... 8
1.2.2 HEDONICS AND SELF-RELEVANCE ... 9
1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT ... 10 1.3.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ... 11 1.4. MANAGERIAL RELEVANCE ... 11 1.5. SCIENTIFIC RELEVANCE ... 11 1.6. REPORT STRUCTURE ... 12 2. LITERATURE ... 13 2.1. CHANNEL EQUITY ... 13 2.2. CHANNEL INCENTIVES ... 13
2.2.1. CREDIBLE CHANNEL POLICIES ... 14
2.2.2. MARKET DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT ... 14
2.2.3. SUPPLEMENTAL CONTACT ... 16 2.2.4. HIGH-POWERED INCENTIVES ... 16 2.2.5. END-USER ENCOURAGEMENTS ... 17 2.3. SATISFACTION... 18 2.4. COMMITMENT ... 18 2.5. SELF-CONGRUENCE ... 19 2.6. RESELLER EQUITY ... 20 2.7. RESELLER COMPETENCIES... 20 2.7.1. KNOWLEDGE ... 20 2.7.2. SKILLS ... 22 2.7.3. JOB ATTITUDE ... 24 2.8. LEADERSHIP STYLE ... 24 2.9. CONCEPTUAL MODEL... 25 3. RESEARCH DESIGN ... 28 3.1. RESEARCH METHOD ... 28 3.2. DATA COLLECTION ... 28 3.3. VARIABLES ... 29 3.3.1. CHANNEL INCENTIVES ... 29 3.3.2. SELF-CONGRUENCE ... 31
3.3.3. SATISFACTION AND COMMITMENT ... 31
3.3.4. RESELLER COMPETENCIES ... 31
3.3.5. JOB ATTITUDE ... 32
3.3.6. LEADERSHIP STYLE ... 32
3.4. POPULATION AND SAMPLE ... 32
3.5. DATA ANALYSIS ... 33
3.5.2. DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS... 34
3.5.3. ITEM REDUCTION ... 34
3.5.4. ANALYSES RELATED TO THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL ... 35
3.6. DELETED QUESTIONS... 36 4. RESULTS ... 37 4.1. DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS ... 37 4.1.1. GENERAL INFORMATION ... 37 4.1.2. CHANNEL INCENTIVES ... 38 4.1.3. SATISFACTION ... 41 4.1.4. COMMITMENT ... 42 4.1.5. SELF-CONGRUENCE ... 42
4.1.6. COMPETENCIES – KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS ... 43
4.1.7. JOB ATTITUDE ... 44
4.1.8. CONCLUSION ... 45
4.2. ITEM REDUCTION ... 46
4.3. ANALYSES RELATED TO THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL ... 52
4.3.1. EFFECTS OF CHANNEL INCENTIVES ON SATISFACTION ... 52
4.3.2. EFFECT OF SELF-CONGRUENCE ON SATISFACTION ... 52
4.3.3. COMBINED EFFECTS OF CHANNEL INCENTIVES AND SELF-CONGRUENCE ON SATISFACTION ... 53
4.3.4. RELATION SATISFACTION AND COMMITMENT ... 53
4.3.5. COMPETENCIES ... 54
4.3.6. LEADERSHIP ... 56
4.3.7. JOB ATTITUDE ... 58
4.3.8. CONCLUSION ... 60
5. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ... 62
5.1 RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS ... 64
5.2 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS ... 64
REFERENCES ... 65
1. Introduction
Today’s turbulent market forces organizations to search for creative ways to satisfy its customers and out-perform competitors. In the environment of fast paced innovations, increased competition, and consumer information overload, it becomes harder for companies to establish and maintain its individuality and distinctiveness; or in other words its brand identity (Keller, 2008).
One of the biggest cosmetic companies in the world, XO, is also facing the difficulties of a changing environment. To stay successful and sustain its market leadership, creativity is a vital characteristic that must be effectively exploited. XO is divided in five distinct divisions related to its distribution channels. The division relevant in this thesis is the ‘Prof’ division. The ‘Prof’ division targets professional hairdressers and consists of several brands, which are; XO Prof, subbrand 2, subbrand 3, subbrand 4 and subbrand 5. This research centers around the brand XO Prof. XO Prof wants to offer hairdressers and their customers high-qualitative and innovative color products, styling products and haircare products. XO Prof’s philosophy is “all different, each unique”, which they fulfill by offering products for the diverse wishes of each individual woman, and recently also for men.
So, XO Prof wants to offer products for every hair type and every style based on the latest fashion and cosmetic trends. Every five weeks, one or more new products are launched. The customers of XO Prof are small, medium and large-sized hairsalons according to the financial value they offer XO. The hairsalons, or resellers, are considered the direct channel. Besides, XO Prof distributes its products to professional hairdresser wholesalers, the indirect channel. Because the marketing animations surrounding the newly launched products which are the focus of this research, are only targeted at the hairsalons, hairdresser wholesalers are left out of this study.
1.1. Practical Background
future success. An example of the sales oriented culture is the different attitudes towards small, medium and large customers, based on financial revenue for XO. Each sales round (i.e. 5 weeks), account managers first visit the larger salons (labeled ‘big fishes’) because these are perceived more important and valuable to XO. For small resellers this can work out negatively. In other words, the value received by resellers from the supplier’s offering is higher for large salons relative to small salons. This attitude difference of XO to its customers, the resellers, can cause (especially small and medium sized) resellers to have a bad brand image of XO and might even lead to the discontinuation of their relationship.
Another issue that XO encounters is the disappointing managerial and commercial process at the reseller. That is, because XO does not directly sell to consumers, they are dependent on a third party; the reseller. XO’s account manager has direct contact with the buying center at the reseller, which often is the owner. However, the other employees have the ultimate contact with the consumer and determine XO’s success for a substantial part. In a way, the employees in the salons are ambassadors of XO. XO knows that, in general hairdressers are very emotional people, and may not all have excellent commercial and managerial skills. Thus, the questions to be raised are:
- What happens to the information that is distributed to the reseller?
- Is there any knowledge transfer at the reseller (from owner to employees)? It is likely that there is a discrepancy between owner and employee regarding knowledge, image, commitment and motivation towards XO.
By analyzing the opinion of the reseller (both owner and employees) about XO as their partner, XO is provided with a better picture of what resellers do and do not value and how this value is transferred to the end-consumer. With this knowledge, XO has a solution to improve its results, financially as well as image related.
1.2. Theoretical Background
marketing of the brand (Keller, 2003). Consumers will react more favorably to brands with a high brand equity compared to a brand with a low or no brand equity.
1.2.1 Brand equity in a B2B environment
However, in a B2B situation a third party, i.e. the reseller, can influence the brand’s salience among consumers, as in the XO case. But, often suppliers identify the reseller as the final customer and forget the wishes of the end-consumer who is eventually the buyer and user of the product; hence define the success of the supplier. Anderson and Narus (2004) developed a model (figure 1.1) that explains brand equity in a business-to-business situation. The authors term “marketplace equity” as the value that a consumer receives from acquiring a particular supplier’s product through a particular reseller in its local trade area.
Marketplace equity is a combined result of brand equity, channel equity and reseller equity. “Reseller equity” is the value of acquiring a supplier’s offering from a particular reseller versus other authorized resellers in the local trade area. The last link of the model is the relation between supplier and reseller, “channel equity”, defined as the value a reseller receives from the channel offering a supplier provides. The channel relations are a critical factor in FMCG industries because most often the main sources of brand equity lie outside the brand-consumer relationship (Jones, 2005).
Comparable to Keller (2003), Anderson and Narus (2004) define brand equity as the value of the supplier’s offering compared to other suppliers’ offerings. The only difference is that Anderson and Narus believe that brand equity is influenced by more than only the supplier, namely the reseller as well. Jones (2005) labels marketplace equity ‘total brand equity’. He defines brand equity in a B2B situation as a multifarious construct that is affected by, or the sum of, a collection of relationships of all stakeholders of an organization. Because the narrow focus of this study on supplier and reseller, and because of practical reasons, the definition of marketplace equity of Anderson and Narus (2004) will be used.
supplier should work together for mutual gain (Keiningham et al., 2005; Leone et al., 2006).
Figure 1.1: Marketplace equity (Anderson & Narus, 2004: 301
Anderson and Narus’ model is a general equity model applicable in business-to-business situations. Concerning this study, XO is the supplier, the hair salon is the reseller and the consumer constitutes the marketplace.
1.2.2 Hedonics and Self-Relevance
This study takes place in a hedonic and self-relevant industry, namely the hairdressing industry. Westbrook and Black (1985) indicate that there are three main reasons to go shopping as consumer: (1) to acquire a product, (2) to acquire a product and fulfil non-product related needs, and (3) to primarily attain goals not related to the non-product. The latter reason is associated with hedonic consumption; fantasy and emotive facets that affect consumption behaviour (Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982). In contrast to utilitarian products which are bought for its necessity, several motivations can underlie hedonic consumption behaviour. For example, the six hedonic shopping motivations of Arnold and Reynolds (2003) are satisfying hedonic needs next to acquiring the necessary product; adventure, social, gratification, idea, role and value shopping. All these motivations apply to the hairdressing industry, with the latter, value shopping, probably to a lesser extent.
The hairdressing industry also offers self-relevant services. Services as a haircut or a colour treatment are self-relevant to the consumer because the end-product of the service is their appearance. In other words, their hairstyle expresses ‘who they are’ or actually as Hong and Zinkhan (1995) pointed out ‘who they ideally like to be’. When
consumers evaluate products or services there is a distinction between the actual-self and the ideal-self (Hong and Zinkhan, 1995). They found that the ideal-self is a better indicator of brand preference in several product categories, amongst which are shampoos and other cosmetics, such as XO’s products. For suppliers of self-relevant services or products it is important to create a match between consumers’ ideal-self concept and the image of the supplier, this match is called self-congruence. The greater the degree of self-congruence, the greater the probability of intention to purchase (Sirgy, 1982).
As stated above, XO is not directly dealing with consumers, but with the reseller, which makes it a B-to-B relationship. Amongst others, Anderson and Narus (2004) state that business decision making is rational and does not involve emotional thinking. However, there is reason to believe that the degree of rationality in B2B situations differs per industry. XO’s experience in this industry tells that hairdressers, are emotional people themselves and tend to buy products not only for rational reasons, as financial advantages compared to the competitor’s offer. But, buying behaviour is also lead by the degree of liking and affection for the products. In other words, hairdressers have hedonic motivations and evaluate products from their ideal-self concept.
1.3. Problem statement
So, channel equity and reseller equity are the main focus of this research. Anderson and Narus (2004) formulate the reseller in their model as a black box. However, as stated above, reseller equity also contributes to marketplace equity. Therefore, this analysis will open the reseller box and explore what constructs might affect reseller equity.
The direct link between supplier and marketplace equity which Anderson and Narus (2004) label ‘brand equity’, is outside the scope of this study. End-consumers certainly have brand knowledge about XO, and therefore, contribute directly to marketplace equity. With exception of accidental advertisements, XO’s marketing communications all go through the reseller. Thus, the relation between supplier and reseller can be directly influenced and therefore, measurement will take place at the reseller.
equity and how to help resellers improve their reseller equity by opening the black box, which covers the resellers’ competencies and leadership style. By improving both these constructs, better marketplace equity is created. And as in many situations, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Therefore, the following scientific problem statement is formulated:
“How can a firm in a self-relevant and hedonic industry, improve its channel equity and reseller equity?”
1.3.1. Research questions
Theoretical:
1. What is channel equity and what are its antecedents in a hedonic and self-relevant industry?
2. What is reseller equity and what are its antecedents in a hedonic and self-relevant industry?
Empirical:
3. How should XO improve its channel equity?
4. How can XO help resellers improve their reseller equity?
1.4. Managerial Relevance
This study will give XO more insight in the value they deliver to resellers and how resellers perceive XO’s marketing efforts. These insights gained from the theoretical and empirical study help XO to improve financial results, because they will be able to deliver the reseller a higher value. On top of that, there is also the possibility they will improve their non-financial results, which will be reflected in the image and attitude improvement among resellers about XO.
This study is also relevant for resellers because their results can also improve, with the help of the new insights at XO. If the new insights are transferred through the whole supply chain, in the end, consumers will benefit too.
1.5. Scientific Relevance
necessary about the relationships and antecedents of these equities (Sawhney and Zabin, 2002). Only since recently, brand equity has been discussed in B2B markets (Jones, 2005), and consensus grows that it is powerful in examining and explaining relationships and value creation in B2B situations. An empirical case study is a way to test if the antecedents really influence channel equity and reseller equity.
Further, the self-relevance of products and services is an upcoming construct in marketing and management literature, and is not yet conclusive, especially not in B2B situations. This study will add to literature by researching channel equity and reseller equity in a hedonic and self-relevant industry, such as hairdressing.
1.6. Report Structure
2. Literature
This chapter explores the theoretical constructs that are relevant in this study. This exploration results in a conceptual model that serves as the basis for the rest of the study. The two theoretical research questions stated in chapter 1, serve as guideline for this theoretical analysis.
2.1. Channel equity
Channel equity is the value the reseller receives from the supplier (Anderson and Narus, 2004). A ‘channel offering’ combines financial and non financial elements that together contribute to the channel equity. Anderson and Narus (2004) state that resellers at least have to receive basic returns from their suppliers such as, adequate financial returns, quality products, reliable delivery, competitive prices and strong brand equity for the supplier’s line. But apart from this, not many studies exist about the antecedents of channel equity, while the existing studies do not agree about the antecedents (Jones 2005, Kumar et al. 1992). Jones (2005) even states that channel equity only is a concept without a structured content.
However, another research stream focusing on intermediary compensation underscores the need of supplier-initiated incentive programs to maintain B-to-B relationships (Gilliland, 2003). This study defines channel incentives as behaviours or policies described in the supplier’s standard operating agreement that are designed to motivate active intermediary support of the supplier’s agenda. In other words, these agreements between supplier and reseller influence the value of the relationship, hence the channel equity. The extensive and complete incentives classification scheme of Gilliland (2003) is used as determinant of channel equity and is discussed in further detail in the next paragraph.
2.2. Channel incentives
convince resellers lies in the fact that each channel relationship is unique and therefore, with a general incentive program suppliers have to find a way to deal with multiple resellers each having its own wishes and with evolving reseller needs and performance concerns (Gilliland, 2004).
Gilliland (2004) developed a four-step process to overcome reseller rejection by crafting compatible channel incentives for both supplier and reseller that maximizes joint results. This four-step process is based on Gilliland’s (2003) incentives classification scheme. More than 170 existing different incentives were divided into the following classifications; credible channel policies, market development support, supplemental conduct, high-powered incentives, end-user encouragements. Characteristics of each dimension are discussed in the next sub-paragraphs.
2.2.1. Credible channel policies
Credible channel policies are tangible, supportive operating principles that demonstrate a supplier’s desire to sustain its resellers base. Policies that are unique and attractive motivate resellers extra to engage in the relationship. According to Gilliland (2004) the category has two sub-categories.
• Pledges to the channel
Suppliers can oblige resellers to have a visible dedication to the channel. By investing in such activities it motivates reciprocity of resellers.
• Conflict resolution strategies
Suppliers can offer resellers account development efforts to pre-empt or reduce channel conflicts. This makes resellers less willing to switch to other suppliers because they feel important.
2.2.2. Market development support
Market development support consist of programs that help resellers perform the various activities that build business in their local territories. There are three sub-categories.
This consists of all information given by the supplier to standardize activities performed by the reseller and also to enhance their performance. An important performance enhancing tool in the hairdressing industry are ‘capability programs’, which are services offered by the supplier, next to the core product. It is recognized as a strategic means of differentiating from the competing offer (Anderson and Narus, 2004).
• Market development tools
Market development tools are assistance programs for resellers that they can use in their local market to increase sales of the supplier’s brand. This increases control of the supplier by standardizing marketing expressions to the end-consumer, and thereby ensuring a certain quality level and uniformity. An important tool when a large customer base has to be reached is ‘mass communication’. A supplier’s mass communication can be directed at resellers or at end-consumers.
• Personal assistance
In a B-to-B channel relationship personal assistance is important in contributing to channel equity. Suppliers dedicate personnel to their resellers, which can either be in the form of technical support or as account manager.
In B-to-B situations there often is a personal sales approach, as in this situation. It is no longer so that only transactions and profits are important. The focus has shifted to building individual relationships with your customers, which in the mean time has grown to one of the most important marketing terms, namely ‘relationship marketing’. Morgan and Hunt (1994) define it as activities towards establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges.
• Certification programs
The third sub-category is about special programs for certified resellers that meet certain requirements. These resellers can benefit from additional resources dedicated by the supplier. This can be in the form of increased discounts, additional marketing tools, dedicated personnel etc.
2.2.3. Supplemental contact
Information programs that go above and beyond daily operations of the reseller to improve resellers’ capabilities, by offering them higher levels of communication and information.
• Communication programs
Formal programs that encourages learning of supplier and reseller by communicating about problems and aspects for improvement in the relationship.
• Automated information and transactions
The supplier makes it easy for resellers to access all information regarding the relationship. This information can range from delivery dates, to the contract, to sensitive relationship data. Suppliers can also automate transactions, to make this process as easy as possible for the reseller and to encourage more transactions.
2.2.4. High-powered incentives
These kind of intentions can be thought of as the more traditional ‘monetary’ incentives in a new jacket. When a supplier offers the reseller monetary incentives it steers up the sales and improves channel equity (Anderson and Narus, 2004). Thus, these incentives increase the monetary compensation for the reseller’s performance. There are three sub-categories.
• Unique sellable solutions
• Immediate incentives to sell
Immediate incentives to sell are direct financial incentives to encourage the reseller to buy more stock from the supplier. Incentive options to reward resellers - only when resellers buy more than a certain amount - are gifts, special offers or mini-packages. But, resellers can also be rewarded after the products are offered to end-consumers, this way market penetration is ensured.
• Financial programs
This is a way for suppliers to improve their cash flow. Because suppliers also have smaller clients an option can be to increase margins on small deals, or to spread purchases over a longer time-period.
2.2.5. End-user encouragements
The last incentives category available to suppliers to improve channel equity are end-user encouragements. These incentives are especially beneficial to long-term relationships, because commitments are made together to improve the value. There are three different options to encourage end-users to become customers.
• Reseller marketing
National programs that are initiated by the supplier to increase brand awareness and its resellers among end-users. This can be done by linking consumers on the website to respective resellers or by mass-communication directed at the end-user.
• Comarketing
Related to the previous tool is comarketing. The difference compared to reseller marketing is that these encouragements are individually set up with specific resellers. For example, a jointly instituted campaign to penetrate the local market where the reseller operates.
• Risk reduction programs
2.3. Satisfaction
As explained in the previous paragraphs, suppliers have many possibilities to convince resellers to become or stay partners. The incentives offered to resellers have an effect on satisfaction, which can either be positive or negative (Gilliland, 2004). In turn, the degree of satisfaction among channel members influences the intention to participate in collective activities (Geyskens et al., 1999). Besides relationship intention, customer satisfaction also results in customer retention and customer loyalty (Keiningham et al., 2005; Kotler, 1994; Parasuraman, 1991). However, Oliver (1999) believes this relation is a bit more complicated; customer satisfaction is essential for repatronage, but is not a guarantee that the customer is committed or loyal. Chen and Quester (2006) state that the influence of incentives on satisfaction and commitment is dependent of the definition, therefore, they include an intrinsic and an extrinsic dimensions of satisfaction and commitment. Paragraph 2.4 discusses commitment in further detail, both dimensions of satisfaction are described first.
Geyskens et al. (1999) make a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions, respectively; economic and non-economic satisfaction. Economic satisfaction is gained from economic rewards from the partner which are all financial incentives as margins and sales volume. Non-economic satisfaction is gained from the psychosocial aspects of the relationship, like interactions that are fulfilling, gratifying and easy. Especially the latter should be strived for as supplier because it has a bigger effect on commitment (Chen and Quester, 2006).
2.4. Commitment
First, the difference between satisfaction and commitment should be clear. Satisfaction, especially the economic aspects, are the short-term tangible aspects in a relationship which are formed more rapidly than commitment. The latter arises after a more comprehensive assessment of a possible future relationship (Geyskens et al.,1999).
of rational explained reasons. Affectively committed customers stay with suppliers because of their affection for and bond with the supplier.
The above stated definition is comparable to respectively behavioural and attitudinal loyalty as defined by Kumar and Reinartz (2002). The kind and degree of commitment is important for the perceived received value of the reseller. Customers that have both a high behavioural and attitudinal loyalty are ‘true believers’ and are the most valuable customers of all. These clients are willing to make short-term sacrifices to maintain the relationship (Anderson & Weitz, 1992). Therefore, true believers should be the gross of a supplier’s customer base to maximize channel equity.
2.5. Self-Congruence
The self-concept is defined as the ‘totality of the individual’s thoughts and feelings having reference to himself as an object’ (Sirgy, 1982). As described in chapter 1, ideal self-congruence is a determinant of the evaluation of the products. In other words, the greater the degree of congruence between the self-concept and the image of the supplier’s product, the greater the probability that the reseller accepts the supplier’s incentives. Thus, the degree of self-congruence influences the satisfaction of the reseller, and indirectly the degree of commitment and channel equity as perceived by the reseller.
The link between brand preference and satisfaction has two important communication implications for the supplier (Jamal and Al-Marri, 2007). First, brand preference can be seen as an alternative antecedent of satisfaction. Second, positive feelings towards the preferred brands are stored in memory. When these feelings are emphasized in marketing communications the supplier can expect increased level of satisfaction among the receivers of the communications.
2.6. Reseller equity
Since branding became a practice, a tension existed between manufacturers and retailers concerning the influence on the relationship with the end-consumer (Webster, 2000). One could state that when the manufacturer product is delivered to the reseller their work is done, and from there it is up to the reseller to provide the end-consumer with a value-added service. Only since recently, it is acknowledged that manufacturer and retailer have to work together to increase the value that is delivered to the end-consumer (Webster, 2000). In other words, the hard work for the manufacturer starts here. Therefore, channel equity has to be translated into reseller equity.
“Reseller equity” is the value of acquiring a supplier’s offering from a particular reseller versus other authorized resellers in the local trade area (Anderson and Narus, 2004). To maximize this value for the end-consumer a reseller has to be market oriented, that is, an organization culture that most effectively and efficiently creates the necessary behaviors for the creation of superior value for buyers and, thus, continuous superior performance for the business (Narver and Slater, 1990).
Front line personnel, especially in retail service contexts, should have a decisive influence on the organization’s market orientation performance, because they are the key implementers of market orientation (Chen and Quester, 2006: 188). Thus, reseller performance is largely determined by the competencies of the reseller; owner and employees. These competencies should all lead to the willingness of the reseller, owner and employees, to sell supplier products, resulting in high reseller equity.
2.7. Reseller competencies
Competencies can be defined as the whole of knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) that enable an individual to perform specific tasks or activities successfully. Rentz et al. (2002) developed a ‘selling skill’ scale (Appendix II), that consists of technical knowledge, interpersonal skills and salesmanship skills. These dimensions are divided according to the KSA model and are described below in more detail.
2.7.1. Knowledge
person or group of persons can apply to direct its actions (Blaauw, 2005). Knowledge that exists within an organization can be either explicit or tacit. Explicit knowledge is easy to transcend or communicate because people know that it exists and it is easy to display in data programs. Tacit knowledge however, is knowledge that is hidden within individuals or organizations of which they might not even know that it exists. According to Weggeman (2000) tacit knowledge is the collection of personal experiences, capabilities and attitudes built up over time that form the basis of a person or of an organization’s norms and values. The secrecy of this tacit knowledge however, is what makes it valuable. The art is to make the knowledge visible within the organization, but keep it hard to copy for other competing organizations.
Knowledge is one of the most important strategic resources that an organization possesses (Foss and Pedersen, 2002; Grant, 1996) and should therefore, be managed carefully. When managed well, it can be a source of competitive advantage. Up to now, there is no universal agreement on the definition of knowledge management (Shin et al.,2001). But, all do agree that knowledge management enables an organization to capture, store, transfer and apply knowledge within and throughout the organization (Gold et al., 2001).
The knowledge area relevant here is technical knowledge, which is described below in more detail. In short, it is important to know whether resellers possess explicit and/or tacit knowledge and whether there is any kind of management of this knowledge to get maximum benefit of this powerful resource.
• Technical knowledge
update the level of expertise. Most of the training in retail settings is focused on improving employees’ technical knowledge and skills (Nickson et al., 2005).
2.7.2. Skills
The second reseller competency to be studied is ‘skills’, which is very closely related to knowledge. The difference however, is that a skill is the ability to transfer knowledge into action. In other words, it is not merely the fact that you theoretically know how to close a deal but, also have the necessary abilities or skills to actually do it.
According to retail employers in the UK, the most anticipated skills gaps of retail employees are; technical and practical skills, customer handling, oral communication, problem solving and team working. (Hart et al., 2006). With the exception of technical skills, the rest are all ‘soft skills’. Especially in service encounters, soft and social skills are critical (Nickson et al., 2005). According to the ‘selling skill’ scale of Rentz et al. (2002) the relevant soft skill areas are; interpersonal skills and salesmanship skills. The details of and differences between both areas, are explained below.
• Interpersonal skills
The human element is a large part of the end-product in the service industry. This makes interaction between the front-line employee and the consumer a critical part of the service experience, because consumers let this weigh heavy in their determination of service quality. Because of this reason, an employee’s soft skills, social-psychological skills (Chen and Quester, 2006), or more generally ‘practical skills’ are the most wanted by retail employers, but are also the most lacking in front-line personnel applicants (Nickson et al., 2005).
visiting, entertaining customers according to their wishes, letting customers speak their mind without reticence etc.
• Salesmanship skills
Having good interpersonal skills is necessary but, not a guarantee to be a good sales employee. An employee with salesmanship skills, starts with information acquisition, probe information, ask questions, listen and observe the customer, all with the objective to solve the customer’s problem by providing him/her with the supplier’s product (Weitz, et al., 1986).
Retail employees use knowledge structures to categorize customers (Sharma et al., 2000). These structures can be described as mental maps containing useful insights about customers and how to respond to their needs effectively. Sharma et al. (2000) found a strong relationship between the complexity of the knowledge structures of employees and sales performance. In other words, when employees have a lot of customer knowledge, it transcends to high commercial skills and behavior. There are two kinds of knowledge structures; declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge.
Declarative knowledge is known as the content of categories representing the characteristics of category members. The contents of these categories should not be based on stereotypes because such a classification is often not need-based and results in sales employees that are less effective in their performance (Sharma et al., 2000; Weitz, Sujan and Sujan, 1986).
Procedural knowledge exists in the form of behavioral scripts containing information about sequences of behavior appropriate for certain circumstances. These scripts do not have to be explicit but can merely exist is people’s minds. Knowledge experts tend to have richer and more detailed procedural information and tend to perform better, these experts often have a unique sales procedure for each customer category.
2.7.3. Job attitude
In contrast to the previous two competencies, knowledge and skills, the attitude competence is rooted deeper within the individual and therefore, less easy to change. Attitudes and motivation were always seen as a stable trait (Amabile, 1988), only since recently these constructs are believed to be changeable by the immediate work environment (Ryan and Deci, 2000; Miao et al., 2007). In his meta-analysis Riketta (2008) found that job attitude influences job performance and not the other way around. This implicates that when employers can change an employee’s attitude, it has a positive effect on performance. Thus, by taking into account the reseller’s attitudes, the process to improve the reseller’s knowledge and skills is facilitated. Because individuals have different motivational needs, all require a different and unique approach (Amabile et al., 1994) to get the improved performance result. Motivation is discussed below in more detail.
• Motivation
Employees can be motivated by different means from an employer’s perspective, but from the employees’ perspective different means are a must to get the best result out of that individual. This study focuses on two streams of motivation; extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Individuals lead by extrinsic motivation seek compensation and recognition, thus are motivated by outward rewards. Individuals lead by intrinsic motivation seek challenge and task enjoyment, thus this motivation comes from within an individual (Amabile, 1994; Miao et al., 2007). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation have a mutual positive effect on performance (Miao et al., 2007).
Employers should offer an optimal combination of both constructs, depending on what the individual employees value. Employers can influence intrinsic motivation by their supervisory interaction style, extrinsic motivation stays constant indifferent of the interaction style (Richer and Vallerand, 1995).
2.8. Leadership style
Not all reseller’s employees are in direct contact with the supplier. In general, the reseller owner or manager interacts directly with the sales manager of the supplier. This person gets the information, knowledge and skills regarding the brand of the supplier first hand. However, employees do not get this privilege even though they are the front personnel and their interaction is critical in consumers’ service evaluation. Therefore, some transformation of the owner’s KSAs about the supplier towards the employees should take place on a regular basis to deliver stable and high quality services.
To analyze the communication between reseller owner to its employees the reseller’s leadership style is assessed. Quinn (1984) identified eight leadership roles based on four organizational orientations (figure 2.1), which are also valid in retail situations (Quinn, 1984; Shim et al., 2002). Effective leaders perform multiple roles simultaneously, depending on the situation (Denison et al., 1995; Quinn, 1984). Leadership styles in retail organizations are influenced by personal values, job characteristics, organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and career progression (Shim et al., 2002).
Figure 2.1: Quinn’s (1984) model of leadership roles
2.9. Conceptual model
The model (figure 2.2) explains that channel equity is determined by several channel incentives. Before these incentives influence the perceived value received by the reseller (which is the channel equity) the reseller decides whether he/she is satisfied and on a long term in how far he/she feels committed. Next to channel incentives, the degree of satisfaction is influenced by the degree of self-congruence.
Channel equity is expressed by the reseller’s knowledge and skills of the supplier’s products. Technical knowledge, or theoretical know-how of the supplier, is transferred into interpersonal and salesmanship skills (actions and behaviour). But, because only the salon owner gains supplier knowledge directly (through the incentives) from XO, some sort of leadership style should transcend these skills and knowledge to the employees of the salon. Next to the information transfer, salon owners and employees both have a job attitude which is more a personal characteristic and is less likely to be influenced by XO but does influence performance of the reseller. Thus, reseller competencies and job attitude together contribute to reseller equity, which is defined as the value of the reseller that is offered to consumers contrasted to the value offered by other resellers in the same trade area.
Figure 2.2: Conceptual Model Reseller equity Economic Satisfaction Non-economic Satisfaction Calculative Commitment Affective Commitment Self-congruence
Channel equity - Employee
Knowledge Technical knowledge
Skills Interpersonal skills Salesmanship skills Channel equity - Salon owner
Knowledge Technical knowledge Skills Interpersonal skills Salesmanship skills Job attitude Motivation Leadership style Competencies Channel incentives Credible Channel Policies
Market Development Support
Supplemental Contact
High Powered Incentives
End-user encouragements
3. Research Design
With the problem specific conceptual model (figure 2.2) in mind, this chapter describes the empirical research design, from research method, to data collection, to data analysis. The research design is the link between the conceptual model and the social reality (Braster, 2000: 59). Therefore, the empirical research questions (paragraph 1.3.1) together with the theoretical conceptual model form the basis of this chapter.
3.1. Research method
This study is to be classified as a conclusive research, which means it is designed to assist the decision maker in determining, evaluating and selecting the best course of action to take in a given situation (Malhotra, 2007). This study is a descriptive research to determine the degree to which marketing variables are associated. There is a large respondent base and some prior theoretical knowledge about the problem situation thus, a quantitative research approach is taken. To be able to answer the research questions and get representative results for the whole client base of XO, this method is argued to be the most appropriate. The design is single cross-sectional, meaning that there is only one measurement from one sample.
3.2. Data collection
Primary data will be collected through two self-administered questionnaires for the research target groups, respectively, salon owners and salon employees. Both sources are subject to the same questions, with exception of questions that are not relevant for the employee. By asking both sources the same questions the results can be compared to one another and possible differences can be interpreted as action points for XO. Each party is required to answer independently, but because the questionnaires are sent to the respondents by mail, there is no control mechanism to verify this. Therefore, independent and non-influenced results are assumed because when a respondent decides to participate he/she wants to benefit, which is only possible when you are honest.
3.3. Variables
As stated above, the conceptual model forms the basis of the empirical study. The questionnaire entails a total of 11 variables to measure the antecedents of channel equity and reseller equity. The variables are divided over 38 items for the owner questionnaire and 27 for the employee questionnaire. Appendix I (A and B) shows the questionnaire as presented to the respondents and appendix II summarizes how each question of the respective questionnaire (owner vs. employee) relates to the variables, the next sub-paragraphs explain the relations in more detail.
Each variable is translated to a question based on existing scales (see appendices III and IV). The existing scales are adapted by minimizing the questions per construct, apply the questions to XO and simplify the language to make the questionnaire accessible for the respective target groups. Further, the questionnaire is set up in Dutch because all respondents are Dutch.
3.3.1. Channel incentives
Channel incentives theoretically consists of 5 categories. Every category consists of a few sub-categories and each sub-category will be measured through one or two questions. We will now operationalize the categories. The final questionnaire measures the construct channel incentives in 19 items divided over 4 categories for the owner, and 11 items divided over 4 categories for the employees.
Credible channel policies
The first category, credible channel policies, has two components which are ‘pledges to the channel’ and ‘conflict resolution strategies’. Both sub-categories are measured through one question each. When both reseller and supplier are willing to commit to the channel there has to be some wish to make this visible from outside the salon. The latter sub-category is the ability and willingness of the supplier to successfully solve problems.
Market development support
- Sales support information – measured in two questions. One question measures the possibilities for the reseller to contact the supplier and the other question verifies the perceived opportunities for sales training.
- Market development tools – two questions measure the reseller’s enthusiasm about the supplier’s promotion tools and the effectiveness of these tools.
- Personal assistance - in a B2B market personal assistance is important, and when the supplier works with a sales manager as in this study it is very important to develop good relationships with the client base. The perceived coerciveness of this strategy can strongly influence the reseller’s opinion. This category is measured through three questions.
- Certification programs – two items will measure this category. The supplier can offer extra attention to resellers when the demand is there. But, everything has a cost. Thus, it is also important to know whether resellers are willing to pay for this extra attention.
Supplemental contact
This category is outside the scope of the research and therefore, none of the two categories (‘communication programs’ and ‘automated information and transactions’) will be included in the questionnaire.
High powered incentives
One of the sub-categories belonging to high powered incentives, ‘financial programs’ will not be included because it is outside the scope of this study. The other two sub-categories ‘unique sellable solutions’ and immediate incentives to sell’ will be included and will be measured in two questions each.
End-user encouragements
The last category of channel incentives is about end-user encouragements which consists of three sub-categories:
- Reseller marketing – is measured in two items; about efforts of the supplier in national branding and the efforts to direct consumers to the reseller.
- Risk reduction programs – is measured in one item by asking the resellers’ opinion about options, offered by the supplier, to let consumers try the products before they buy it.
3.3.2. Self-congruence
Two aspects of self-congruence are relevant in this study. One question asks the respondent about their perceived degree of fit with the brand image of the supplier, XO. Another relevant aspect is if respondents like or appreciate the products of the supplier. This construct is measured through two questions.
3.3.3. Satisfaction and Commitment
The two constructs satisfaction and commitment both have two sub-categories which have a comparable meaning.
- Economic satisfaction and calculative commitment - Non-economic satisfaction and affective commitment
The only difference is that satisfaction is about the short term and commitment is about the long term. The four sub-categories are measured through 1 question each, thus 4 items in total.
To check if satisfaction leads to commitment in practice, an extra question will be asked about the relation between satisfaction and loyalty of the reseller on the long term. Thus, this loyalty question, brings this category to a total of 5 measurement items.
3.3.4. Reseller Competencies
This study focuses on two competencies; knowledge and skills. Knowledge has one sub-category and skills has two sub-categories, but are both measured through four questions each, thus a total of 8 questions for this construct.
Knowledge
Skills
The second sub-category of competencies are the resellers’ skills. The first sub-category acquires information about the resellers’ interpersonal skills, by asking them about their ability to form relationships with the consumers. The other sub-category is about the resellers’ salesmanship skills, which is measured through three questions. First, we want to know what resellers see as an ideal customer advice. The second question checks whether their actual behavior corresponds with their ideal situation. The last question measures the general attitude towards selling and advice giving among the resellers.
3.3.5. Job attitude
The conceptual model shows that job attitude might influence the resellers’ competencies. This study therefore, investigates two sub-categories; extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is measured through one question by asking respondents if they gain pleasure from their job. Extrinsic motivation consists of two items which are motivation through financial rewards and motivation through appreciation from others. This variable is measured through a total of three questions.
3.3.6. Leadership style
This last category is somewhat different from the rest. Quinn’s model of leadership roles is used to set up four different descriptions of leadership activities. The respondent will be asked to rank each of the styles based on fit according to their own leadership behavior.
3.4. Population and sample
XO Prof has about 2400 customers in their database. However, for the purpose of this research a sample selection of representative customers is made based on the following criteria:
• the salon should be an active client, meaning that the last order should be placed within the last three months
• the salon should have a minimum annual turnover with XO of €4000,-, this amount also guarantees that the salon is a regular client, but can still mean the salon is small.
This selection lead to a sample of 750 salons that received the questionnaire set. Each salon received two questionnaires, one for the salon owner and one for an employee. With a response rate of 21,6% this lead to 162 returned questionnaire sets from salon owners and employees. After examining the completeness of returned questionnaires 29 questionnaires were deleted, thus, 133 usable data sets remained. Of the 29 deleted questionnaires; 3 questionnaires were incomplete or possessed unreliable data, the other 26 deleted questionnaires were half datasets, thus either only the owner or only the employee questionnaire was returned. Of the half datasets 8 questionnaires answered they did have personnel, the reason for not returning the employee questionnaire remains unclear. The respondents of the other 17 half datasets indicated they did not have personnel and therefore, did not return the employee questionnaire. Because the comparison between owner and employee is too important in this study, the questionnaires are also deleted. Above that, 17 questionnaires is not enough to make any statistical judgments about salons without personnel (=ZZP).
Previous experience at XO learned that the response rate of salons to questionnaires is extremely low. To increase the response rate XO put 10 product packages worth € 150,- at the researcher’s disposal. These prizes are awarded through a raffle among the returned questionnaires.
3.5. Data analysis
Because the data that is collected has a quantitative character, the data analysis requires a quantitative approach. SPSS is used to obtain the analytical results.
3.5.1. Data quality
Lastly, one local hairdresser that works with XO filled in the questionnaire after which we discussed the questions. To ensure reliability after the data collection period, incomplete questionnaires were taken out of further consideration.
Another criteria that is used to judge the quality of the research is the content validity, does the question really measure what is should measure. By using existing scales (Appendix III and IV) to set up the questionnaire all is done to improve this.
A third quality criteria used in this study is the generalization of the sample. The sample selection was based on the above stated criteria, which makes the results generalizable to the entire XO customer base, with exception of the hairdresser chains and hairdresser schools. Of the returned questionnaires 32.8% is a 100% XO client, meaning that the salon only uses and sells XO products and no other brands. The other 67.2% does sell other brands. This estimates the real ratio of 100% XO clients vs. normal XO clients and therefore, it increases the generalization of the results.
Still, there are some limitations of the acquired data. Insights found in this study might not count for hairdressers that are non-customers of XO or salons of which XO aspires to be supplier. But, this research did not have the intention to attain this generalization. In the future, a slightly adapted questionnaire targeted at non-customers can serve XO with their insights about these constructs.
3.5.2. Descriptive results
To serve XO with the results of the questionnaire, descriptive statistics will be calculated. One sample t-tests will be done for all questions solely asked to owners and for all questions asked to the owner as well as employee, here both respondents are considered as one sample. To be able to compare both groups (owner and employee) on their opinions paired t-tests will be done on the questions asked to both respondent groups. These statistics are very valuable for XO because it indicates points for improvement and points of success.
3.5.3. Item reduction
variables, factor analysis will be executed on all variables that were measured through more than one item. This entails the constructs channel incentives, self congruence, satisfaction, commitment, competencies and job attitude.
Before a proper factor analysis can be executed it is important to know whether the sample is adequate. A KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) calculation determines if there is a common element in the variables which allows to combine the variables. It is generally accepted to use a minimum KMO-value of 0.6. Values ranging between 0.5 and 0.6 have a marginal common element and factor analysis can proceed, but with caution.
The number of factors is determined by the Eigen Value (larger than 1) and the cumulative explained variance (higher than 60%). Cronbach alpha measure is used to determine if the variables that belong to a certain factor have enough internal consistency, the cut-off point that is used is 0.6.
Based on the factor analysis, new variables are computed which are used for further analyses. To filter out noise from variables belonging to other factors, new variables are computed as follows:
Factor = Scores of each variable belonging to factor / number of variables belonging to factor
3.5.4. Analyses related to the conceptual model
For all relations displayed in the model, multivariate regression analyses will be executed. A regression analysis tests if the independent variables significantly influence the value of the dependent variable. Table 3.1 shows on which variables a regression analysis will be performed.
Dependent variable Independent variable(s)
Satisfaction Channel incentives
Satisfaction Self-congruence
Satisfaction Channel incentives and Self-congruence together
Commitment Satisfaction
Knowledge (owner + employee separate) Skills (owner + employee separate)
Competencies employee Competencies Owner
Competencies (owner + employee separate) Job attitude (owner + employee separate)
Table 3.1: Regression analysis based on the conceptual model
3.6. Deleted questions
Even after thorough pre-testing, when the questionnaires returned it became clear that some questions were not answered correctly. This includes the following questions.
• question 1 – the leadership question. Many respondents did not understand the ‘ranking’ of the different leadership styles. No further analyses can be done on this variable, because results will be too unreliable.
• question 4 of the owner questionnaire, about the relation between satisfaction and commitment. Respondents had to agree or disagree with the following statement; ‘even though I am satisfied that does not mean I will stay partners with XO in the future’. This question only had to be answered by respondents that are satisfied about the cooperation with XO. Probably, instructions were not clear enough because many respondents did not answer this question. And unfortunately, because of the negation and formulation of the remaining data is unreliable and not taken into further consideration.
4. Results
This chapter describes the results gained from the empirical study. First, descriptive results about the variables in the conceptual model are described. Second, the analyses about the relations of the conceptual model are described.
4.1. Descriptive results
The descriptive results are divided according to the variables of the conceptual model. Because there are many descriptive results, explanations are short and only the most important and striking results get some more attention. The table with the t-test results of all questions is to be found in appendix VI and VII.
4.1.1. General information
Before the variables are described, the general information about the respondents will be given. Appendix V shows detailed information about all general aspects. A total of 133 salons returned the questionnaire of which 43 (32.8%) salons were 100% XO salons and 88 (67.2%) salons also use and sell other brands, see figure 4.1 for the distribution. Of the salons that have other brands as well, the highest percentage other brands is in the category haircare, followed by styling and haircolor. This confirms the fact that XO is a real ‘haircolor’ brand.
Distribution L'Oréal for every product category
0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00% 80,00% 90,00% 100,00% Including 100% L'Oréal salons (N=131) Exclusive 100% L'Oréal salons (N=88) P e rc e n ta g e H: Haircolor % L'Oréal I: Haircare % L'Oréal J: Styling % L'Oréal
Figure 4.1: Distribution XO for every product category
categories are independent from each other with a significance of 0,00 on a 95% security interval (see appendix IV-A).
On average, each salon has 6,5 full-time employees. The average age of the owner is 42 and the employees’ 28 years. The first group has on average 24 years experience and the employees on average 10 years.
4.1.2. Channel incentives
Four categories of channel incentives were included in the questionnaire, respectively; credible channel policies, market development support, high powered incentives and end-user encouragements. Table 4.1 until 4.4 shows the scores of the one sample t-test of each sub-category for the total sample and the results of the paired t-test of each relevant sub-category for both respondent groups (owner and employee) separately. More detailed results are to be found in appendix IV-B.
Credible channel policies
XO gives resellers options to make visible from outside that their store is a reseller of XO. Resellers slightly agree (score: 4,1) with the statement to make their connection with XO visible from outside the salon. Respondents are a little less positive about how XO handles reduction of channel conflicts, but they are still positive (score: 3.9).
Owner Sig. *
Credible Channel Policies
Pledges to the channel
Outside visibility 4,076 0,000
Conflict resolution strategies
Problem solving strategy 3,892 0,000
Table 4.1: Descriptive results - Credible channel policies (*Significance on a 95% security interval)
Market development support
The second sub-category is about the market development tools XO has to offer to its resellers. Resellers indicate that they are slightly enthusiastic about XO’s promotion tools but are not positive nor negative about the effectiveness of these tools. This result might be due to the fact that some respondents were extremely negative or extremely positive about their effectiveness.
Another tool for XO to help their resellers is by personal assistance. Currently, employees are not formally involved with the cooperation with XO. Therefore, owners were asked about their extra enthusiasm for XO products because of the interaction with the sales manager. Employees were asked about their willingness to get more involved in the cooperation with XO. With a score of 3,9 owners are slightly satisfied about this relationship, and employees indicate with a 3,6 they don’t necessarily have to get more involved with the cooperation, but move slightly to the answer ‘yes’.
Respondents don’t have an opinion about the fourth sub-category: certification programs. Owners are more positive about the need to get more attention for their salon from XO, while employees might be the group that should want more attention to improve their knowledge and skills. This will become clear in paragraph 4.1.6. Because, respondents do not have the need for extra attention, owners are somewhat unwilling to pay for this extra business advice and attention.
Total
sample Sig. * Owner Employee Sig. *
Market Development Support
Sales support information
Contact possibilities 4,106 0,000 4,129 4,083 0,651 Possibilities product sales training 3,805 0,000 3,917 3,692 0,013
Market development tools
Enthusiasm promotion tools 3,951 0,000 4,000 3,902 0,333 Effectiveness promotion tools 3,207 0,000 3,165 3,248 0,327
Personal assistance
Overall relationship rayon manager 3,777 0,000 3,878 3,679 0,074 Perceived non-coerciveness strategy 3,820 0,000 Perceived coerciveness strategy 2,639 0,001
Certification programs
High powered incentives
High powered incentives are the more traditional financial incentives in a new jacket. Again, XO can offer the reseller several options to improve financial motivation for the reseller. But, questionnaire results show that XO’s scores on this category are not as high as on the other categories, which might indicate points for improvement.
One of XO’s believed strengths, their unique sellable solution or in other words the ‘brand’ XO, scores somewhat disappointing. Respondents only give a spark of positive emotions towards XO’s efforts when a new product(line) is introduced. They are slightly more positive about XO’s brand advantage relative to other brands. A notable result is that employees are significantly more positive about XO’s brand advantage than owners. In general, owners are not positive nor negative about the financial margins given by XO. This indefinite result is partly due to the relatively high variance (1,08). The same interpretation counts for the question about resellers’ satisfaction regarding the buying incentives.
Total
sample Sig. * Owner Employee Sig. *
High powered incentives
Unique sellable solutions
XO's effort product introduction 3,630 0,000 3,628 3,636 0,942 Competitive brand advantage 3,709 0,000 3,629 3,796 0,059
Immediate incentives to sell
Financial margins 3,173 0,068
Buying incentives (staffels) 3,301 0,004 Table 4.3: Descriptive results – High powered incentives (*Significance on a 95% security interval)
End-user encouragements
The last sub-category of channel incentives is about end-user encouragements. XO can assist the reseller through several coordinated programs. Resellers agree with the statement that XO does its best to make consumers familiar with the brand. Respondents slightly hang over to the positive edge with their opinion about XO’s efforts to direct consumers to their salon, about their support regarding individual reseller promotion activities and ‘trying is buying’ options for consumers.
Total
