Journal of Business logistics, Vol. 28, no. 2, 2007 ... - Global Initiatives

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112 hult, boyer, and ketchen, Jr.attributes are linked with customers’ behavioral intentions (Boulding, Kalra, and Staelin 1999; Parasuraman,Zeithaml, and Malhotra 2004; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman 1996). In fact, the notionthat customers prefer greater service and eBusiness qualities, in addition to product quality, is ratherintuitive, especially if price and other tangible and intangible elements are held constant.In summary, we expect that the outcomes involving online grocery firms (in our case, customers’repurchase intentions) will be greater when their quality profiles are similar to those of theperformance-maximizing ideal profile of a certain operational logistics strategy type (as illustrated inFigure 2) (cf. Vorhies and Morgan 2003). As such, we hypothesize that:H 1: The more similar the quality profile of an online grocery firm pursuing a semi-extendedstrategy is to that of the ideal profile for a semi-extended strategy type, the greater therepurchase intentions of the firm customers.H 2: The more similar the quality profile of an online grocery firm pursuing a fully extendedstrategy is to that of the ideal profile for a fully extended strategy type, the greater therepurchase intentions of the firm customers.H 3: The more similar the quality profile of an online grocery firm pursuing a de-coupledstrategy is to that of the ideal profile for a de-coupled strategy type, the greater therepurchase intentions of the firm customers.H 4: The more similar the quality profile of an online grocery firm pursuing a centralizedextended strategy is to that of the ideal profile for a centralized extended strategy type, thegreater the repurchase intentions of the firm customers.METHODData Collection and SamplesThe overall sample consisted of customers of four different online/home delivery grocers.Online/home delivery grocers present an interesting area of application for the study of operationallogistics strategy types and quality issues (service, product, and eBusiness) because many such firmshave struggled (e.g., Webvan), suggesting that much remains unknown about this area. In addition,operational logistics strategy as a research focus is increasing in the logistics literature (Clinton andCloss 1997; Wisner 2003).The four strategies we discuss are based on inductive insights generated through our preliminaryfieldwork coupled with actual order fulfillment and delivery methods used by the firms in the sample.The fieldwork involved a series of interviews with industry experts and participant observation activitieswithin several firms (e.g., visiting firm locations, warehouses, transportation operations). Oncewe identified the four strategies, we sought out one firm that pursues each strategy to participate inthe study. Executives from each firm then verified the classification of their firm within the selectedstrategy type (between three to fifteen executives per firm verified the strategy classification). Collectively,this method ensured the correct classification of each firm within the appropriate strategytype. For example, if a firm fills orders by picking from a distribution center and the customers pick
Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 28, No. 2, 2007 113up the “assembled basket” of products from the DC or another location, we classify the strategy as“de-coupled strategy.” The same logic applies to the other strategies – they are based on actual orderfulfillment and actual delivery methods, not perceptions by the researchers or executives.Each quadrant in Figure 1 is represented by the customers of one firm. All four firms weregenerous with their time and allowing us access to their customers, but prefer not to be identified byname given the competitive nature of the home delivery grocery business. While we cannot includeindividual sales and financial characteristics for sensitivity reasons, collectively the firms had annualonline/home delivery sales of more than $150 million in 2003 and an aggregate customer base ofmore than 100,000 customers who purchase at least once per month. The people in our final sampleaccount for over 34,000 purchases and $4 million total in home delivery sales over the length of theirrelationship with the Internet grocer. The general survey data collection principles recommendedby Dillman (2000) were followed. All measures in the study were pre-tested via discussion withnumerous managers at the participating companies as well as executives from other online grocers.Suggestions for wording and presentation were used to improve each of the measures prior todata collection.Semi extendedCustomers of this grocer were contacted by email and asked to fill out an online survey. Onefree delivery (a $4.95 value) was offered to customers as an incentive to complete the survey andcustomers were sent a reminder email one week after the first email if they had not yet filled out thesurvey. A total of 1,159 customers were contacted and 396 responses were received for a responserate of 34.2%.Fully extendedThis grocer was not comfortable providing us with any contact or past ordering information onany customers despite our standard and repeated assurances that all information would be held incomplete confidentiality. Thus, to obtain customer responses related to the fully extended grocer, thisgrocer posted a link on the checkout page for orders inviting customers to “opt-in” and fill out thesurvey. No incentive for participation was offered. A total of 10,418 unique customers (14,959 totalorders) were placed over a two-week period and we received 898 survey responses (8.5%).De-coupledCustomers of this grocer were contacted by email and asked to fill out an online survey. Thegrocer provided baseball hats with the grocer’s logo as an incentive to complete the survey – thechoice of incentives was partly driven by the desire to build the company’s brand given a lack ofbrick and mortar stores. A total of 2,000 customers were contacted and 461 responses were receivedfor a response rate of 23.0%.Centralized extendedCustomers of this grocer were contacted by email and asked to fill out an online survey. Thegrocer provided 20 pairs of movie tickets to be raffled off to customers participating in the survey. Areminder email was sent one week after the first if customers had not yet filled out the survey. A totalof 2,500 customers were contacted and 691 responses were received for a response rate of 27.6%.
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