Excellent products or servitisation? Analysing retailers’ preference before and after a loyalty programme

This paper compares two manufacturer strategies focused on their retailers: (i) product strategy and (ii) service process strategy (before, during, and after selling). Additionally, the role of time in the manufacturer–retailer relationship is measured, testing the relevance of both strategies: before and after a loyalty programme. To this end, a sample of 51 international retailers who work with a furniture manufacturer throughout the time were contacted in two different periods of time: in 2009, before implementing a loyalty programme, and in 2012, after implementing a loyalty programme. Results probe the importance of the service strategy compared to product strategy to explain retailers’ satisfaction. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the length of time does not strengthen the manufacturer–distributor relationship. That is, the efficacy of loyalty programmes to strengthen retailers’ satisfaction and loyalty could not be probed in this paper, may be due to the situation of the current economy and the size of our sample.