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Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to test a conceptual model by means of which we try to establish the influence of store satisfaction and other variables (gender, mobility and availability of alternative stores) on consumers' responses to out-of-stock (OOS) situations.
Design/methodology/approach - ^he authors used a standardized questionnaire to gather data on consumer responses to OOS and then analyzed determinants including store satisfaction (for which reliability, validity and unidimensionality were tested). ^he survey was conducted in the four largest cities in Serbia. All respondents were interviewed randomly, through telephone calls, whereby 392 responses were gathered. ^he established hypotheses were tested by means of a multinomial logit model with the use of marginal effects.
Findings - The results show that store satisfaction significantly affects three out-of-stock responses (store switching, postponement and product switching), whereas, positively in the case of product switching and postponement and negatively in the case of store switching. ^he results also show that store satisfied consumers, regardless of other factors, are not likely to switch stores in out-of-stock situations.
Originality/value - As well as managerial implications, this paper included store satisfaction as an antecedent of consumer OOS responses for the first time. In addition, the impact of this variable on OOS responses was analyzed at both levels of the availability of alternative stores, gender and mobility.
Keywords - Out-of-stock; consumer responses; store satisfaction.
IIntroduction
Forming and carrying inventories basically results from the wish to ensure the continuity of a company's business operations, in order to secure protection against disruption to supplies, or price volatility, and appropriately meet demands (Blinder & Maccini, 1991). Bearing in mind that inventories are a substantial part of business assets both in trade and in manufacturing companies, they account for comparatively high financial assessments. According to the report by the World Bank (2010), inventory costs make up 2.1% of the United States' GDP and up to 5% of Brazilian GDP.
However, as well as the costs caused by the "existence" of inventories, most companies, especially retailers, often confront them with those related to out-of-stock situations. When a consumer cannot find a desired product in the store, both the retailer and the supplier can suffer certain consequences. thereby, almost any consumer OOS response may produce...