Christoph Baldauf defended his thesis "Empirical Essays on Retail Logistics and Customer Behavior" on January 27. His thesis explores this transformation in four research articles, with a view to contributing to a better understanding of the relevance in retail today, and its impact on customer behavior.

The thesis demonstrates how logistics does not solely impact a retailer’s cost side of the business but also demand from customers. As such, the thesis highlights the integrative approach needed between marketing and operations, since logistics performance is increasingly relevant for marketing performance. The thesis also accentuates the role of people in operations management research by emphasizing how customers are impacted by retail logistics, which adds to a better understanding of how people affect real-life operational processes.

Christoph Baldauf with his thesis "Empirical Essays on Retail Logistics and Customer Behavior".

- The most interesting aspect of the thesis is that it shows that customers increasingly buy a product not solely for its features but also for how, and how fast, the item is delivered and/or returned. This stresses how logistics has moved from being a back-office operation to sitting at the forefront of retailers’ service offerings. It is a lot of fun to talk to people about this since many realize that also for them, logistics became a part of a retailer’s value proposition says Christoph Baldauf.

Are there any examples of how logistics affect customer behavior in online and omnichannel shopping?

There are numerous examples of how customers are affected by logistics in today’s retail environment. One such factor is product availability. Before making a purchase, customers increasingly check whether a product is available online or at a nearby store, which then might impact them in the decision of how and where to purchase the item. Other aspects include the fulfillment and return processes. When ordering online, the successful last-mile delivery is crucial for customer satisfaction and retention, and the options customers have (e.g., home delivery, collection point, store pick-up) often impact the purchase decision. What also is of importance is how retailers allow their customers to return products. Having a buy-online-return-to-store policy in place, for example, can attract customers as they appreciate the convenience of cross-channel returns.

Read the thesis "Empirical Essays on Retail Logistics and Customer Behavior"

Christophe Baldauf and supervisors Associate Professor Fredrik Eng Larsson and Associate Professor Olov Isaksson, Stockholm Business School.

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