Analyzing repurchase behavior and benchmarking brands : implications for salespersons in a personal selling context

Purpose: This work reports on a study to measure tractor owners' (mostly farmers') repurchase behavior (RPB). While earlier studies have focused on the technical aspects of the tractors, none as yet have considered farmer intention and behavior for predicting purchase decision. A conceptual model was built considering all possible antecedents of farmers' RPB based on in-depth interviews and discussions with marketing managers. Interviews with customers were used to understand these antecedents or interactions with salespersons, either directly or indirectly during conversations or visits to stores. The authors have attempted to develop a scale on farmers' consumption experience from the perspective of farmers. Design/methodology/approach: The model was validated using Smart-PLS, and the best tractor brand was identified using data envelopment analysis (DEA). At the village level, snowball sampling was adopted to identify potential tractor owners who had repurchased the same brand or a higher model as respondents. Findings: Findings reveal that all the paths were found to be significant. Farmers' consumption experience (FE) seems to be the biggest predictor of RPB, followed by image, satisfaction and trust. The newly introduced construct FE has a significant effect on farmers' RPB. DEA results further indicate that most tractor companies function with 100% efficiency. Research limitations/implications: The study was carried out in India; it can be extended to other countries. Also, the sample was collected from one state in India and is cross-sectional in nature, so it cannot be generalized. Originality/value: First, the authors developed a conceptual model considering all possible antecedents of RPB. No studies had yet developed a scale on FE. Second, the authors created a benchmark for the various preferred tractor brands from the farmers' perspective using DEA.