Small-independent retailers vs. organized retailers: An empirical study in Indonesian economics of service industries

• We explore the influence of strategic planning and functional-business strategy in helping small-independent retailers to survive.
• We illustrate the influence of strategic planning and functional-business strategy on retailer–supplier relationship, consumer loyalty program, and retailer performance.
• We clarify the relationships among these constructs by using structural equation model.
• The retailer–supplier relationship and consumer loyalty program fully mediated the relationship between strategic planning and retailer performance.
• The consumer loyalty program fully mediated the relationship between retailer functional-business strategy and retailer performance.

This paper explores the influence of strategic planning and functional-business strategy in helping small-independent retailers/traditional retailers to survive amidst the competition with organized retailers. Based on cross-sectional survey research, this study illustrates the influence of strategic planning and functional-business strategy to retailer–supplier relationship, consumer loyalty program, and retailer performance. In order to clarify the relationships among these constructs, a structural equation model (SEM) is employed to examine the model fit and the five hypotheses. The results show that strategic planning is critical for small independent retailers due to its influence on the retailer–supplier relationship and consumer loyalty program. Besides, consumer loyalty program is also influenced by functional-business strategy. The retailer–supplier relationship and consumer loyalty program exhibits a positive influence on the small-independent retailer performance. The research supports the existence of a more complex that the consumer loyalty program fully mediates the relationships between strategic planning and functional-business strategy on retail performance. Moreover, the retailer–supplier relationship fully mediates the relationship between strategic planning and small retailer performance. These findings constitute a new contribution to the literature on small retailer research streams through the development of cross category relationships such as strategy, buyer behavior, and structure categories. Besides, this study can enhance the strategic management as well as the performance of small-independent retailers to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.