Supplier relationship marketing practices and small retailer performance in South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographics of the respondents

Demographic		N	Percentage
Gender	Male	60	51.7
	Female	27	23.3
	Data missing	29	24
	TOTAL	116	100
Age	20–24	11	9.5
	25–29	39	33.6
	30–40	37	31.9
	41–50	11	9.5
	51–59	9	7.8
	60+	8	6.9
	Data missing	1	0.9
	TOTAL	116	100
Level of education	Below grade 12	22	19
	Completed grade 12/matric	36	31
	Post-school qualification: diploma/certificate	29	25
	Post-school qualification: degree	11	9.5
	Postgraduate qualification	18	15.5
	TOTAL	116	100
Years of operation	Less than 1	28	24.1
	Between 1 and 3	27	23.3
	Between 3 and 5	17	14.7
	Between 5 and 10	21	18.1
	More than 10	23	19.8
Total		116	100
Who is responsible for buying	Owner-manager	68	58.6
	Manager	43	37.1
	Salesperson	2	1.7
	Other (please specify)	1	.9
	Data missing	2	98.3
	Total	116	100
Number of suppliers	1–10	103	88.8
	11–20	6	5.2
	More than 20	2	1.7
	Data missing	5	95.7
	Total	116	100

Figure 1. Types of product sold.

Figure 2. Support received from suppliers.

Table 2. Correlations among the latent constructs (Pearson’s in the lower half/Spearman’s in the upper half)

	Information sharing	Long-term relationships	Transactional relationships	Collaborative relationships
Information sharing	1
Long-term relationships	0.371**	1
Transactional relationships	0.008	−0.146	1
Collaborative relationships	0.191*	0.337**	−0.101	1

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 3. Factor analysis

	Mean score (M)	Factor 1: Information sharing	Factor 2: Long-term relationships	Factor 3: Transactional relationships	Factor 4: Collaborative relationships
We share competitor information with our suppliers	4.00	.844
We share new product ideas with our suppliers	4.21	.819
We communicate our changing needs to suppliers	4.36	.814
We share information with our suppliers regarding the quality of the products	4.59	.749
We exchange performance feedback	3.90	.690
Sustaining relationship with our suppliers is important	4.47		.865
We have plans to continue this relationship	4.15		.824
We expect our relationship with suppliers to last a long time	4.44		.779
We review all our supply relationships regularly, in order to identify problems and/or opportunities	3.73		.662
We have long-term relationships with our suppliers	4.31		.565
We buy similar products from different suppliers	4.04			.785
We sometimes change suppliers if they are not performing well	4.33			.758
We change suppliers from time to time	3.38			.672
We rely on a small number of high-quality suppliers	3.61				.865
We maintain close relationship with a limited pool of suppliers	3.56				.682
Mean score		4.210	4.219	3.916	3.586
Cronbach Alpha = 0.740		0.853	0.804	0.603	0.523
Cumulative percentage		22.65	21.61	12.97	9.11
Percentage of variance		30.67	47.84	58.68	66.36
Eigenvalues		4.601	2.576	1.626	1.152
Standard deviation		1.007	0.863	1.126	1.277

Table 4. The impact of relationship marketing on small retail performance

	Benefits as a result of buying from this supplier	Information sharing	Long-term relationship	Transactional relationship	Collaborative relationship	B	β	sr^2
Information sharing	.334**					.352**	0.316	0.292
Long-term relationship	0.168	.371**				0.092	0.071	0.062
Transactional relationship	0.032	0.008	−0.146			0.035	0.035	0.034
Collaborative relationship	0.036	.191*	.337**	−0.101		−0.039	−0.045	−0.042
			Intercept = 2.476
Means	4.34	4.21	4.22	3.92	3.59
Standard deviation	1.12	1.01	0.86	1.13	1.28		R^2 = 0.117
							Adj R^2 = 0.085
							R = 0.342