Servicing In-store Shopping Journeys in Retailing: Competing Multi-lateral Contingencies

The current chapter aims to extend the existing marketing firm theory and its focus on the consumer orientation concept to that of customer-centric journeys as retailers respond differently to consumer needs. After an introduction, we provide a conceptualisation of the retailing firm where we ask how retailers balance their orientation towards their two masters—customers and suppliers. Then we discuss customer centricity and in-store customer journeys as concepts before viewing consumer response effort/convenience and transaction costs through these lenses using relevant behavioural data from a large consumer tracking study in Norway. The insight generated through these data and our conceptual analysis suggests a need for a more thorough understanding of the competing multi-lateral contingencies between customers, retailers, and suppliers. Thus, we further discuss who the customer is in retail and why suppliers can also be considered customers, which type of journey is the most profitable for the retailer, and how heterogeneity of purchases may act as a contingency for retailers. Finally, we discuss the results, the limitations, and suggested avenues for future research.