The managerial ability to control the varied behaviour of regular customers in retailing: interformat differences

The objectives are to provide a model to estimate the amount of varied behaviour (VB) of retail customers that might be controlled by managers, and to find if the store format determines differences in the potential level of controllable VB, and in the management tools. We apply a multi-sample SEM estimation of the management model to the operation of a grocery multi-format retailer. The first finding is that the VB is only partially determined by the managerial action. The second major finding is that the store format determines differences in the amount of controllable VB and in its management. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.