Determinants of the Variety of Routes to Market

Abstract

Increasingly, firms use more and different routes to market. This study investigates whether such heterogeneity in the variety of routes to market can be explained systematically. More specifically, the authors examine how (1) the type and level of a firm’s customer orientation and (2) the type and degree of customer search behavior influences the firm’s adoption of a variety of routes. They collect primary data on 210 firms in four consumer industries across three countries to test the hypotheses. The authors find strong evidence for a link between a firm’s customer orientation and the breadth of its variety of routes but only partial evidence for a link between customer search behavior and the breadth of the variety of routes.

Keywords: channels of distribution; routes to market; multiple channels; customer orientation; customer search behavior

JEL Classification: M31