Distribution Service : Competition Within and Among Retail Formats

Distribution service provision is an important instrument for the creation of availability. The book addresses in five parts the role of distribution service in individual channel member decision making in a competitive retailing environment through theoretical and empirical modeling and analysis. The empirical applications all concern the Dutch domestic cut flower market. The book starts in part I with development of a new and integrative conceptualization for distribution service elaborating on views from logistics, economics, and psychology. The second part of the book addresses the theory underlying consumer evaluation of and choice from assortments. It provides a theoretical framework of consumption goals, situational, and contextual variables, including retailer distribution service provision, as determinants of consumer evaluation of and choice from assortments. Several hypotheses are tested in an empirical study. Extended multinomial logit modeling of the experimental choice data has been used as a tool for optimization of retail assortments. Part III investigates the role of retail distribution service provision in consumer post-purchase evaluation processes and extends existing research on consumer post-purchase evaluation. Part IV focuses on the role of distribution service in vertical and horizontal strategic interactions between channel members, particularly between manufacturers and retailers, and its consequences for the emergence of different channel structures and retail formats. A game-theoretic model has been developed for retail competition with respect to price and distribution service and its consequences for the emergence of differentiated retail formats. Finally, part V discusses research implications and future research challenges