The research carried out aimed to identify strategies, tools, and functionalities which influence the management of relationships between customers and suppliers, in the wholesale and retail sector in Portugal. Is also aimed to understand the propensity towards purchasing variables and understand their perspective on the new challenges facing them and the sector. Based on the literature review developed, this investigation resorted to the use of semi-structured interviews, carried out with eight managers of companies in the wholesale and retail sector in Portugal. As main results, the interviewees were able to identify different ways of creating value for customers, namely the quality of products and services, meeting delivery deadlines and technical knowledge. Most companies achieve a competitive advantage through internal sources such as creativity, level of technology, capacity for innovation and learning or the experience of their professionals. Furthermore, companies have different approaches to markets and use different marketing tools, appropriate to their size.
TopIntroduction
The investment in a stable and close relationship between companies and their customers, whether business or end consumers, provides several advantages for them, being essential for the stability and durability of the business. The creation and sharing of value are the cornerstones for a lasting relationship between customer and supplier. In the market, delivering more value to customers than competitors are the basis for creating and maintaining relationships. Still, it is not just enough to deliver this greatest value to customers, it is necessary to differentiate it, as it is perceived in different ways (Perkins, 1993). On the other hand, value is still a relative concept as purchase decision-makers, when evaluating an offer, will always take into account alternative offers for a given situation (Agyei et al., 2022).
The concept of value focused on relationships between customer and supplier has been the subject of different studies because purchasing and supplying companies do not do business with each other, solely due to the value of the goods or services exchanged. The changes that occurred in the business environment, through digitalization, led to a development in interactions to create value (Rusthollkarhu et al., 2020). For Lindgreen & Wynstra (2005) in addition to any technical, service, economic or social benefits explicitly present in an offer, there may be other types of factors at the level of the supplying company that make its offer more attractive that the others, such as its reputation or location and capacity for innovation.
In the value proposition offered to customers, competitive advantage is a differentiating element. According to Barney & Hesterly (2010), competitive advantage consists of generating greater economic value that competitors, offering a greater perception of benefit at a lower cost or at a higher cost (exceptionally in cases of high reward or incentive). The importance of this competitive advantages has been confirmed and considered preponderant, being assumed that the fundamental objective of a company is the search for this competitive advantage and including it in its value proposition, in order to provide greater value to customers and achieve greater long-term sustainability (Zhang et al., 2023).
In markets, the differences between B2B and B2C markets are not based on the products or services that are transacted in each of these markets, but rather on the context in which these products or services are sold. There are several commercial business models, however, these two will be the targets of our analysis. A company can work with more than one market at the same time, thus operating in the B2B and B2C markets, depending on the segment in which it operates, simply by having an efficient system to restrict and differentiate services. This segmentation essentially serves to direct specific communication to each of them.
The digital transformation we are witnessing, marked by the emergence of numerous disruptive factors in different areas, requires us to reinvent our own beliefs, attitudes, and practices, which will inevitably have an impact on the activities of our organizations, in better performance and at a higher market value (Tang et al., 2018).
Even in older organizations, or in less developed sectors of activity, these transformations are already being felt, whether through the mechanisms used or the way production is carried out. These evolutions maintain the focus on creating value, seeking benefits of innovation accelerators to increase their profitability and sustainability (Schilling & Seuring, 2023). This business model is focused on novelty, on a new form of companies to carry out their activities, which implies a change for all actors, activities and transactions (Costa Climent & Haftor, 2021).
These changes focus mainly on information, being significantly important for companies, due to changes in relationships between customers and suppliers, as well as in their internal communications, changes in product production and the way in which new technologies are used, so they can create value and ensure competitive advantage (Correani et al., 2020).