Re-designing adaptive selling strategies: the role of different types of shopping companions

This paper explores the influence of shopping companions in retail sales conversa-tions and the necessity of designing more comprehensive sales training programs. In particular, the characteristics and behaviors of shopping companions and their sub-sequent effects on accompanied shoppers, the salesperson and the sales conversa-tion are examined. Shopping companions have not played a role in adaptive selling research and most practical trainings for salespeople so far, although they can signif-icantly affect shopper behavior and decision-making, and require distinct approaches by salespeople. Systematizing in-depth interviews with salespeople and qualitative content analysis reveal a variety of different character traits and behaviors of shop-ping companions that can lead to positive and negative outcomes from a salesper-son’s perspective. The interactions that take place between customers and salespeo-ple are the core element of customer-oriented service in retailing. When a holistic customer-oriented service is part of their value proposition, retailers should consider re-designing training programs for salespeople and include the influence of shop-ping companions. In doing so, salespeople’s customer orientation can be increased by augmenting their capabilities and enabling them to make use of adaptive selling techniques specifically designed for co-shopping situations.