Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to theorize country-of-origin (COO) to be important to retail buyers in making purchase decisions. However, this question has not been addressed in the literature and leaves a
critical gap in determining how COO ultimately affects consumer purchase options. Design/methodology/approach – Retail buyer behavior is empirically tested with both premium and value brands from Italy. A sample retail buyers was taken from a LexisNexis database and provided 205 completed surveys. Construct scales were taken from existing literature and tested using composite reliability. SEM was used to analyze the data. Findings – Results showed that retail buyers are affected by COO; that low involvement purchases are not differentially affected compared to high involvement; product typicality enhances likelihood of purchase and this typicality is more important for high involvement goods. Practical implications – Retail buyers are affected by COO and will make product choices for their stores accordingly. Companies should be aware of this and take it into consideration to strengthen their acceptance by retail buyers. Trade organizations within countries may consider advertising approaches to distinguish themselves and stimulate positive COO among retail buyers. Originality/value – This is the first time that retail buyer behavior has been studied with regard to COO effects using consumer models. Results showed that use of these models is more appropriate than only using industrial buying models. Retail buyers are found to indeed be affected by COO, which in turn influence buying choices for consumers and offerings from retailers.
