Journal of Marketing Management

ISSN: 0267-257X (Print) 1472-1376 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjmm20

Personal Selling in Retail Settings: How Does the

Internet and Related Technologies Enable and
Limit Successful Selling?

Dhruv Grewal , Michael Levy & Greg W. Marshall

To cite this article: Dhruv Grewal , Michael Levy & Greg W. Marshall (2002) Personal Selling in
Retail Settings: How Does the Internet and Related Technologies Enable and Limit Successful
Selling?, Journal of Marketing Management, 18:3-4, 301-316, DOI: 10.1362/0267257022872433

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1362/0267257022872433

Published online: 01 Feb 2010.

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 Journal of Marketing Management, 2002, 18, 301-316

Personal Selling in Retail Settings:

Dhruv Grewal*1,
Michael Levy*2 and
Greg W. Marshall#3
*Babson College
#Oklahoma State University
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How Does the Internet and Related
Technologies Enable and Limit
Successful Selling?
Despite the proliferation of Internet usage both by
retailers and by retail customers, little is know about
the impact of the Internet on the retail salesperson’s
ability to add value to customer encounters. This
article identifies and discusses Internet-related
factors that potentially enable and/or limit the

salesperson’s successful execution of the personal

selling process and also considers the effects of
limitations of Internet retailing on achievement of
desired retailer performance. Research questions are
identified as a foundation for future work in the area.

Introduction

In less than a decade, the Internet has had a significant impact on the way
most of us live. Consumers shop, do research, chat with friends and
colleagues, and sometimes just wander somewhat aimlessly. In the B-to-B
world, the Internet has also shaped the way many businesses communicate
with each other. The use of EDI (electronic data interchange) and e-mail has
been elevated to new levels in conducting the daily activities of commerce.
For instance, manufacturers and retailers collaborate with their vendors
across the gamut of supply chain issues from procurement and design to
payment and returns. Overall, IBM recently estimated that the average
annual growth rate of e-commerce from 1995-1999 was +175 percent per
year, with doubling time now less than six months (www.ibm.com/iac).

1 Correspondence: Dhruv Grewal is the Toyota Chair of Commerce and Electronic

Business and Professor of Marketing, Marketing Division, Babson College, Wellesley,
MA., Phone: (781) 239-3902. E-mail: dgrewal@babson.edu
2 Michael Levy is the Charles Clarke Reynolds Professor of Marketing, Department

of Marketing, Babson College, Wellesley, MA, , Phone: (781) 239-5629. E-mail:

mlevy@babson.edu
3 Greg W. Marshall is Associate Professor of Marketing at Oklahoma State

University, Tulsa, OK, , Phone: (918) 594-8596. E-mail: gwmmkt@okstate.edu

All authors contributed to this article and the order of authorship is listed
alphabetically.
ISSN1472-1376/2002/03-400301+15 £4.00/0 ©Westburn Publishers Ltd.
 302 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

One area on which the impact of the Internet and related technologies is
expected to be profound is on the personal selling process (Marshall,
Moncrief, and Lassk 1999). In the early 1990s, pundits predicted the end of
automobile dealerships, real estate agents, insurance salespeople, and
stockbrokers. Although Internet technology may often facilitate automobile,
real estate, or insurance sales, the personal selling process is still strong in
those sectors. The Internet has, however, revolutionized the way consumers
do research on and purchase securities (Sheth, Sisodia and Sharma 2000).
Why the difference? Securities are quasi-commodities (de Figueiredo 2000).
Like books, CDs, software, and office supplies, securities can be purchased
from multiple sources. It is relatively easy and often free to obtain online
information on these products. Thus, for such items the price, or the
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commission rate, along with purchase convenience, becomes the crucial

purchase criteria instead of value added by the personal selling process.
In the 1990’s, a variety of authors in the sales literature began to point out
the profound impact that advancing technology, and especially the Internet,
would likely have on the selling process and on the jobs of salespeople (cf.
Anderson 1996; Cravens 1995). Although these two authors presented a
balanced view of the challenges and benefits of technology to modern selling,
others, especially in the popular business press, heralded the demise of
personal selling as we know it. If, contrary to such predictions, salespeople
haven’t disappeared, then what will be the impact of the Internet and related
technologies on the personal selling process? Rather than tackle this question
for both B-to-B and retail selling, we concentrate on only the retailer-to-
consumer personal selling environment. Although some major pure-play
(Internet only) e-tailers such as e-Bay, Dell, and Amazon.com are still intact
at this writing, their relative success has not been a result of personal selling.
We will therefore limit our discussion to those retailers with a strong multi-
channel orientation (a combination of either traditional stores, catalogs, or
direct sales and Internet).
The remainder of the paper will proceed as follows. First, a matrix of
personal selling styles and functions is presented and discussed. The matrix
contrasts transactional and relational selling approaches in retail and B-to-B
markets. Showing this contrast between retail and B-to-B helps focus our
discussion on retail selling. Second, we briefly revisit the elements of the
traditional personal selling process to ensure the reader is familiar with the
process. Finally, a variety of internet-driven enablers and limiters to the
success of retail personal selling are presented and exemplified. Also a
number of limiters of Internet retailing that are likely to enhance the use of
retail personal selling are presented. The paper closes with suggestions for
future research.
 Personal Selling in Retail Settings 303

Personal Selling and the Internet

The Internet affects the personal selling process in many ways and in several
contexts. For ease of explication, we have delineated the personal selling
contexts and type of relationship using a 2-by-2 matrix portrayed in Figure
1. Horizontally, we have “Type of Exchange”—transactional versus
relational, and vertically we have “Personal Selling Context”—Retail (B-to-C)
and B-to-B.

Type of
Relationship
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Transactional Relational

Retail
Cell 1 Cell 2
(B-to-C)

Personal
Selling
Context

B-to-B Cell 3 Cell 4

Figure 1. Personal Selling Contexts and Relationships

Several authors have investigated the situations in which implementing

relational selling models versus transactional models is more appropriate (cf.
Bosworth 1995; Rackham and De Vincentis 1999; Sheth, Sisodia and Sharma
2000). Imbedded within the concept of relational selling is the deeper
process of consultative selling, in which the salesperson (1) helps their
customers understand their problems, issues, and opportunities in a new or
different way, (2) shows customers new or better solutions to their problems,
and (3) acts within his/her own organisation as an advocate and resource-
gatherer for their customers (Rackham and De Vincentis 1999, p. 128). As
such, these consultative behaviors are expected to substantively increase the
value-added provided the customer by the selling process.
We now turn to an explanation of each of the cells in the matrix.
 304 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

Cell 1: In transactional selling in a retail store, salespeople’s primary

functions are helping customers find merchandise and complete the
transaction. Customers may search the Internet at a particular site or use
smart search engines to find and learn about merchandise and prices (e.g.,
Bizrate.com or MySimon.com), and then come to the store informed about
the product they want. The in-store salesperson finds the merchandise and
checks out the customer.
Cell 2: Transactional selling in a B-to-B context is very similar to the retail
setting. The salesperson locates the merchandise, either physically or
electronically, and processes the order. Internet technologies have increased
the ease by which a business customer can e-procure. Prior to the Internet,
firms developed expensive proprietary EDI (electronic data interchange)
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systems for communicating transactions to their suppliers. Since proprietary

systems are no longer necessary with the Internet, smaller players who could
heretofore not afford to participate in EDI now are easily able to conduct
electronic transactions.
Current U.S. Dept of Commerce statistics suggest that 90 percent of
transactions completed over the Internet are business-to-business and
Forrester Research projects that revenues of inter-organisational on-line
exchanges are expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2003.4
Cell 3: Relational selling in a B-to-B context involves providing answers
or solutions to problems or future problems of a firm’s customers. This
creates a strong value-added to the relationship, which enables the personal
seller to create loyalty and retain customers.
The Internet has been used by a number of firms to develop sales portals
for their sales force (e.g., EM2). Thus, information about the client and the
product is readily available at one site that is easily accessible and secure.
This enhances the selling process.
The Internet is also used to provide customers with a website that has all
their information about past orders, negotiated deals, and other key records.
For example, Dell provides each of its major customers Premier Pages. Both
the Dell relational seller and the customer can access the information and
thus engage in a more fruitful selling encounter.
Cell 4: Relational selling in retailing is not significantly different from that
in a B-to-B setting. Relationships with customers help create loyalty and
retain customers. A number of articles have stressed the importance of loyal
customers by focusing on their lifetime value (Heskett, Sasser, and
Schlesinger 1997; Reichheld 1996; Reichheld and Sasser 1990). The Internet
can be an invaluable ally in these endeavors. For example, it could be used

4 Although it is not possible to differentiate what portion of these sales are based on
transactional versus relational selling, given the nature of EDI, we expect a sizable
portion to be transactional.
 Personal Selling in Retail Settings 305

by sales organisations to:

• Provide on-line order status to customers for special orders. This

reduces the time salespeople spend answering order status queries.
• Provide on-line sales histories to salespeople and customers. This
enables salespeople to get to know customers’ tastes and potential
needs, thus helping in suggestive selling. Customers may also wish
to review past purchases to match styles/colors or to facilitate a
return or an exchange.
• Help salespeople find merchandise that is not available at the store
because it is out-of-stock. Staples, for instance, has trained
salespeople to help customers find merchandise using in-store
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Internet kiosks connected to Staples.Com. Such multi-channel

integration is likely to enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and the
lifetime value of the customer for the salesperson. It allows the
salesperson to convert a bad situation into a possible win-win
situation.
• Help salespeople make sales on merchandise not in store’s
assortment. The Internet allows chains to carry high cost, slow
moving merchandise that can be sold from central locations as
opposed to individual stores. By better integrating bricks and clicks
the chain can enhance the opportunity for the salesperson to cross-sell
and up-sell certain SKU’s that are not carried in the store.
• Help salespeople educate the customer on how to use alternative
channels. Usage of multi-channels can enhance the overall
profitability of the customer (Montoya-Weiss, Voss, and Grewal
2001). For example, J.C. Penney customers who shop in all three
channels (stores, catalogs, and Internet) are spending four times the
amount of single-channel shoppers’ expenditures (Hyde 2001).
However, the flip side of this issue is that once a customer uses the
Internet, the salesperson may lose the customer.

As mentioned previously, in the next sections we focus on the fourth cell

(relational personal selling within a retail context). We are interested in
considering how certain Internet-related factors may impact the personal
selling process as strategic enablers, limiters, or both. Understanding more
about these Internet-related factors and how to incorporate them into the
personal selling function should better allow sales organisations to create
and maintain sustainable competitive advantage.

The Process of Personal Selling

Considerable research has appeared in academic journals regarding the
 306 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

personal selling process (cf. Dubinsky 1980; Reeves and Barksdale 1984).
Some of these studies have examined differences in the process and in selling
techniques between B-to-B and B-to-C settings and between goods and
services (Dubinsky and Rudelius 1980; Hite and Bellizzi 1985). Other authors
have investigated in depth specific things salespeople can do to improve the
success of the personal selling process such as better prospecting (Jolson and
Wotruba 1992), gaining customer trust (Swan and Nolan 1985), asking
effective questions of customers (Schuster and Danes 1986), and utilizing
good interpersonal listening skills (Castleberry and Shepherd 1993). It is
noteworthy that much of this body of literature was published a decade or
more ago---little work has appeared in the literature on alterations in the
selling process based on today’s technological capabilities.
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Dubinsky’s (1980) seminal factor analytic study of the personal selling

process provided evidence to confirm the following steps and underlying
structure: Step 1 – Locating and Prospecting for Customers (includes
external sources, internal sources, personal contact, and miscellaneous other
sources); Step 2 – Pre-approach (includes interview approaches and
information sources); Step 3 – The Approach (includes non-product related
approaches, peaking interest approaches, consumer-directed approaches,
and product-related approaches); Step 4 – The Sales Presentation (includes
visual display techniques, sales presentation types, and non-visual
clarification techniques; Step 5 – Handling Objections/Sales Resistance
(includes offset objection techniques, clarify objection techniques, and other
miscellaneous objection-handling techniques); Step 6 – Close (includes
clarification closes, psychologically-oriented closes, straightforward closes,
and concession closes); and Step 7 – Post-Sale Follow-Up (includes customer
service activities, customer satisfaction-oriented activities, and customer
referral activities).
In retail settings, the process may be modified slightly from the above as
(1) the collecting of information (i.e., prospecting and pre-approach) typically
take place in “real time” as the customer enters the store and a dialogue
begins between him/her and the salesperson and (2) the time-frame for the
overall process tends to be substantially compressed in a retail setting versus
outside sales. Nonetheless, the task at hand in successfully executing the
sales process at retail is very similar to B-to-B settings.
Careful perusal of the elements of the personal selling process reveals the
strong two-way interpersonal communication characteristics associated with
selling. The function of selling, as mapped by this process, will take place
during the course of customer encounters. A key questions is, how much of
the sales function can/will be mediated or replaced by the Internet?
Ultimately, it will be important for retail sales organisations to consider how
Internet and related technology usage by salespeople and customers impacts
 Personal Selling in Retail Settings 307

the ability of both (1) the salesperson to successfully execute the personal
selling process such that the salesperson is adding value to the customer
encounter and (2) the salesperson and sales organisation to achieve desired
performance goals. Figure 2 portrays a variety of Internet-driven enablers
and limiters on the personal selling process and limitations of Internet
retailing on performance. This figure is adapted from Grewal, Iyer, and Levy
(forthcoming). The next section discusses each of these potential enablers and
limiters in more detail.

Internet Enablers
Personal Selling Process
Performance
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! Access to Information
! Prospecting
! Accessability ! Sales
! Pre-Approach
! Economies of Scale ! Cross-Selling
! Approach
! Information Collection ! Up-Selling
! Presentation
! Profits
! Handling Resistance
! Close
! Post-Sale

Limiters due to the Internet

Limiters of Internet Retailing
! Access to Price Information
! Novelty and Convenience ! Lack of Trial
! Ability to Maximise Sales Promotions ! Lack of Trust
! Loss of Retailer Control in Service Recovery ! Fears of Privacy and Security
! Dilution of In-Store Impulse Buying ! Lack of In-Store Experience

Figure 2. Internet-Personal Selling-Performance Relationships

Internet Enablers for Retail Personal Selling

The Internet and related technologies have the capacity to enable sales
organisations and their salespeople to better execute the personal selling
process (Grewal, Iyer, and Levy forthcoming). Some of the important
enabling factors are identified and discussed below.

Access to Information
The Internet can facilitate the personal selling process by providing
salespeople and customers with easier access to information. From the
customer perspective, prior to going to a store (or in some cases while at the
store at a kiosk) customers can conveniently peruse the entire assortment
carried by the retailer with minimal effort, inconvenience, and time
investment. As a result, customers have a better idea of what they want
before engaging the help of a salesperson. From the salesperson’s
perspective, they cannot easily match the on-demand provision of
 308 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

merchandise information that is available over the Internet. It is particularly

difficult to maintain a highly trained sales force and most major retailers
suffer from high salesperson turnover. Salespeople can supplement their
product knowledge by “checking” the Internet. In addition, retailers are
actively developing Internet-based sales training courses.

Accessibility to Customers
Brick-and-mortar retailers and their retail salespeople are limited by their
physical trade area. A multi-channel strategy that utilizes the Internet for
prospecting customers and promoting the store and its products can greatly
expand a retailer’s trade area. Customers may find a particular retailer by
searching the Internet, and then interact with a salesperson in the store or via
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email or telephone. Alternatively, customers may establish a relationship

with a salesperson after visiting a store or calling on the phone, then continue
the communication through email.

Higher Economies of Scale

Because of the relatively high cost of retail sales forces and constant efforts
to improve productivity, managers have devised various strategies for
gaining economies of scale by increasing the ratio of sales to sales expenses.
Among these strategies are:

• A total reduction of the number of salespeople on the sales floor.

• An increase of the number of part-time salespeople relative to full-
time salespeople. Part-time sales people are less expensive because
their hourly rate is generally lower and benefits are minimal.
• Improving scheduling. The use of part-time salespeople better
enables retailers to adjust the number of people on the floor according
to time of day or season.

The first two strategies necessarily reduce the number of well-trained

professional salespeople on the floor. As a result, sales are missed and
service failures abound. Enter the Internet. By providing better access to
information and customers, as described above, retailers can train
salespeople to be more productive. Retailers are also experimenting with
specialized sales forces—contacts are made over the Internet and then the
relationship is transferred to a salesperson in the store. This division of labor
enables retailers to make the best use of their employees’ skills and abilities.

Information Collection
In their boundary spanning position, professional retail salespeople have
long been actively trained to collect information on their customers. This
 Personal Selling in Retail Settings 309

information is transferred to store managers and buyers to provide timely

feedback on merchandise, services, and policies. Salespeople dealing in
higher service, more prestigious merchandise are particularly well-
positioned to collect information on their customers’ tastes, preferences, and
purchases to be used as a point of reference for contacting them in the future
as well as for the development of segmentation strategies by the retailer
(Deeter-Schmelz, Moore, and Goebel 2000).
In part because of the trend toward organisation wide, data driven CRM
initiatives, the salesperson’s role as a collector and processor of information
from customers is key (Leigh and Marshall 2001). Customer data collected
by salespeople can augment and enrich the data warehousing/mining efforts
established from other multi-channel sources, particularly the Internet.
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These activities can range from the salesperson questions to augment the
customer’s profile and sales history to actively involving the salesperson is
collecting 360 degree feedback on the organisation and its performance from
customers and all other major stakeholders.

Internet Limiters for Retail Personal Selling

Access to Price Information

Customers can easily compare prices across a wide range of merchants
and offerings over the Internet. For instance, organisations such as Kelley
Blue Book (www.kbb.com) have all but revolutionized the manner in which
many people shop for cars. No longer at the mercy of the dealer and its
salespeople who possess some “mysterious” formula for pricing, customers
now come to dealerships armed with invoice cost knowledge. To survive,
salespeople in such industries must learn to better compete on bases other
than price.

Novelty and Convenience

In the past, retail salespeople had a captive audience. For many
merchandise categories, few viable alternatives were available to going to a
store. Today, the Internet provides an extremely viable alternative shopping
mode. Also, because of its relative newness, the Internet creates a unique
shopping experience for customers, thus fulfilling experiential aspects
desired by some from the shopping encounter. Further, it is open 24-7 and is
as easy to access as a click on a mouse.
In reaction, retail salespeople must find creative ways to use technology
themselves to facilitate the personal communication process. Emails
effectively entice customers to go to a store for new merchandise or a sale.
However, nothing, not even a telephone call, can match the potential of a
face-to-face presentation from a well-trained salesperson, especially for
 310 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

touch/feel products (such as apparel) and unique touch/feel products (such

as fine jewelry or antiques). Moreover, it is more difficult for firms to sell
merchandise that contains a strong service component as part of the overall
offering over the Internet (e.g., a men’s suit).

Ability to Maximize Sales Promotion

In the past, retailers often used sales promotions, such as coupons or a
rebate, to enhance purchase intent. Frequently, these promotions were
established in concert with suppliers or manufacturers of the goods sold in
the store. Retail salespeople relied on sales promotions to provide added
incentives for the customer to close the sale. As a result of the proliferation
of manufacturers’ web sites, the control of sales promotions has shifted from
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retailers to manufacturers. Customers can go to a manufacturer’s web site,

get the coupon or rebate, and present it to any retailer. The advantage to the
salesperson is gone.

Loss of Retailer Control in Service Recovery

Before the Internet, a retail salesperson who is well trained in service
recovery was the best strategy at a retailer’s disposal for turning a bad
customer experience into a good one. Because of easy customer access to
both chain retailer and manufacturer websites, most of which have extensive
customer care links associated with them, some of the control the individual
stores had in managing their service recovery effort has been siphoned off by
direct contact with some headquarters staff. For the customer, this may
provide more immediate resolution and quicker satisfaction. It may also
eliminate store-to-store service recovery quality variability. However, going
direct to a headquarters takes a highly prized tool from the retail salesperson
– the ability to build the strong relational bond with a customer that comes
from fixing something that has gone wrong and making it even better than
the customer expected it would be.

Dilution of In-Store Impulse Buying

Most of us know someone who has bought even a very high priced item
on impulse (stories about luxury car purchases are legendary). Sharp retail
salespeople know to watch for emotion-driven buyers and know how to
subtly facilitate such impulse purchases. Of course, as mentioned in the
prior section on access to price information, the Internet lays open vast
information for perusal prior to a customer’s entry into the store
environment. That is, the Internet tends to facilitate an information
processing and decision making modality more along the lines of multi-
attribute models. In the past, getting one’s hands on much of this advance
information was either impossible or was so much work that many
customers simply would go to the store unarmed and allow the store
 Personal Selling in Retail Settings 311

environment to work its magic. Interestingly, a trend exists for on-line

retailers to structure their web sites to spark impulse purchasing, which, of
course, also works to the disadvantage of successful in-store personal selling.

Limitations of Internet Retailing to Enhance In-Store Personal

Selling

A number of factors could be considered to be significant limitations of

Internet retailers (Grewal, Iyer and Levy forthcoming). These factors, while
being limitations to the use of Internet retailing, may actually contribute to
the success of physical stores and their sales forces.
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Lack of Trust
Personal selling is inherently the most useful promotional vehicle for
offering high-trust persuasive communication. This type of selling is
important for products such as jewelry and other products or services where
consumers have difficulty evaluating value or aesthetic issues. While
objective communication is often very well represented online, and can be
efficiently searched and indexed, customers may require the decision-making
assistance that salespeople provide.

Lack of Trial
Consumers often require high sensory evaluation and/or trial for
touch/feel and quasi-touch/feel products that can most easily be facilitated
with the help of a salesperson. Although Internet retailers are improving
their ability to provide streaming video presentations and “virtual models,”
they are still inherently deficient in their ability to offer a satisfying pre-trial
experience and evaluation for the majority of commonly bought products
such as clothing, toys, and furniture. By contrast, the products most
frequently purchased via Internet retailers are quasi-commodities, such as
books, software, and music. However, major retailers selling these quasi-
commodities typically do not offer a high level of sales assistance anyway.
Thus, the personal selling process facilitates merchandise trial, and the
Internet has relatively little effect.

Fears Related to Loss of Privacy and Security

Issues of privacy and security generate less concern from consumers who
are dealing with a salesperson than when they go online. First, Internet
transactions are carried out over a public domain. Therefore, issues of
encryption, network security, and transactional privacy and security have
become a concern. Second, privacy policies of various e-tailers vary widely,
from those who barter or sell customer information to those who use the
 312 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

information primarily for internal purposes. However, privacy promises

made at the time of an initial transaction may not hold in the future. Firms
may quickly change their privacy policies, as Amazon.com did recently.

Pangs of Withdrawal from In-Store Shopping Experiences

Some people like to shop. They like the “theater” of retailing—the sights,
sounds, and smells. They take pleasure in the social interactions they have
while shopping with friends and family. Importantly, they enjoy interacting
with salespeople and mingling with crowds. Although retailers are trying to
create an enjoyable shopping experience on the Internet, complete with
online chats with experts and salespeople, many would argue that it is not
the same as interacting with a real person face-to-face.
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Conclusions

Two general product groupings had, in the past, required minimal personal
selling. The first group includes commodities, such as hardware and non-
branded groceries (de Figueiredo 2000). The second group, such as office
supplies, computer products, books, music CDs, and videos, are viewed as
quasi-commodities because they may have a strong brand identity, but are
widely distributed. The selling process for both commodities and quasi-
commodities is typically transactional. Without Internet technology,
salespeople were required to spend one-on-one time with customers to fill
orders and provide information—a very expensive and questionably
productive use of their time. Of course, some customers may develop a
relationship with retailers selling these products, even though the products
themselves generally do not require much sales assistance.5
The efficiency of the selling process for commodities and quasi-
commodities is generally enhanced by the Internet and related technologies.
Customers needing information about these products can readily do so over
the Internet or with in-store kiosks. Salespeople can facilitate the sale by
either using the Internet to garner customer information or to order
merchandise that isn’t currently available in the store.
Unfortunately, by the very nature of these commodity and quasi-
commodity products, customers can use the Internet to learn about the
product at one store and purchase it at another. Further, since these products
are not highly differentiated, customers may shop around for the lowest
price. Of course, price is often not the most important factor when buying a
product.

5Exceptions to this generality can easily be found. Starbucks and Home Depot both
successfully utilize a professional selling staff to sell their commodity-like
merchandise.
 Personal Selling in Retail Settings 313

The sale of touch/feel or unique touch/feel products can also be facilitated

through the Internet, but in ways different from commodities and quasi-
commodities. In general, the personal selling process is more important for
these products. Personal relationships are likely to be important and
salespeople are more likely to perform a consultative role. Successful
salespeople for these products not only establish a degree of credibility for
providing advice, but also a comfort level. After all, since no one really has
to have a diamond ring or an antique armoire, salespeople provide the
critical function of explaining the intrinsic benefits or “value” of the product
and of reducing dissonance by assuring the customer that he/she is doing
the right thing by making the purchase.
The Internet is useful for developing and maintaining a one-to-one
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relationship with customers, primarily through personalized email and

promotions. Salespeople can alert customers to newly delivered
merchandise and thank them for recent purchases. Internet communications
can be effectively used with frequent purchase/loyalty programs to promote
benefits and to alert customers to special promotions. On the supply side,
salespeople can utilize Internet technology to communicate with buyers and
suppliers to facilitate the delivery of out-of-stock and custom orders.
Certainly, salespeople have traditionally been viewed as occupying such a
“boundary spanning” or “linking pin” role. However, given the emphasis
many organisations are now placing on highly data driven customer
relationship management (CRM) approaches, this customer-linking role of
the salesperson is accentuated. Today, salespeople form the key conduit for
information flows among all stakeholders involved in the sale, and in
particular become important gatherers and disseminators of information
resources that drive the customer relationship process (Leigh and Marshall
2001). As such, a salesperson’s attention to effective execution of the
personal selling process is more important than ever.
The prior discussion about enablers and limiters of the Internet to the
personal selling process and the role of limitations of Internet retailing all
point to a number of critical questions that future research needs to address:

• Under what circumstances is Internet retailing a threat to the personal

selling process?
• Under what circumstances does the integration of bricks and clicks
help or hurt a salesperson?
• How can the retail salesperson use the Internet to create relationships
with their customers?
• To what extent has Internet usage really penetrated the sales force?
• How has the enhanced knowledge levels of customers via the Internet
affected the personal selling process and the bottom-line for retailers?
 314 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

• Has the Internet enhanced or reduced the ability of the salesperson to

cross-sell? Is this affected by the product or industry?
• Has the Internet enhanced or reduced the ability of the salesperson to
up-sell?
• What is the potential for the Internet channel to affect the size of the
sales force in multi-channel organisations?
• How do firms coordinate the selling efforts across these multi-
channels.

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About the Authors
Dhruv Grewal (Ph.D. Virginia Tech) is the Toyota Chair in Commerce and
Electronic Business and a Professor of Marketing at Babson College. He is
currently co-editor of Journal of Retailing. His research and teaching interests
focus on e-business, retailing, global marketing and value-based marketing
strategies. He is a “Distinguished Fellow” of the Academy of Marketing
Science. He has published over 50 journal articles. He has won awards for
both his teaching and research. His teaching awards include the Academy of
Marketing Science Great Teachers in Marketing Award (1999). He co-chaired
the 1993 Academy of Marketing Science Conference, the 1998 Winter
American Marketing Association Conference, a 1998 Marketing Science
 316 Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy and Greg W. Marshall

Institute Conference and the 2001 American Marketing Association Doctoral

Consortium. He has co-edited a special issues of Journal of Public Policy and
Marketing (1998), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2000) and of the
Journal of Retailing (2000).

Michael Levy, Ph.D. (The Ohio State University) has been a member of the
faculty at Southern Methodist University and served as Chair of the
Marketing Department at the University of Miami for eleven years. He is
currently the Charles Clarke Reynolds Professor of Marketing, Babson
College in Wellesley, Mass.
Professor Levy is co-editor of Journal of Retailing with Dhruv Grewal. He
has developed a strong stream of research in retailing, business logistics,
financial retailing strategy, pricing, and sales management that has been
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published in over 30 articles in leading marketing and logistics journals

including the Journal of Retailing, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Marketing
Research. He also serves on the editorial board of Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, and International Journal of Logistics and Materials
Management. He is co-author of best-selling retailing text in the country,
Retailing Management, fourth edition with Barton A. Weitz (Irwin/McGraw-
Hill 2001.)

Greg W. Marshall (Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is Associate Professor

of Marketing at Oklahoma State University. Prior to joining OSU, he served
on the faculties of the University of South Florida and Texas Christian
University. He has published over twenty refereed articles in a variety of
marketing journals. His research centers on the following areas: salesforce
selection, performance, and evaluation; salesforce diversity; decision making
by marketing managers; and intraorganisational relationships. He recently
served as Special Issue Guest Editor for the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management for an issue devoted to “Strategic Issues in Selling and Sales
Management.” His industry experience includes thirteen years in selling and
sales management and product management with such companies as Warner
Lambert and Mennen.