Investigating cross-buying and customer loyalty

Cross-buying (i.e., the purchase of products from multiple categories) has been associated with higher levels of customer retention, revenue generation, and loyalty. Despite these claims, debate remains as to whether cross-buying is an antecedent to such behaviors or if loyalty behaviors represent the antecedent, with cross-buying as a consequence. This research investigates the direction, strength, and nature of the relationship between customers’ cross-buying behavior and associated behavioral outcomes by using a Granger-type causality modeling and two data sets. The authors determine that cross-buying is a consequence and not an antecedent of behavioral loyalty. Specifically, behavioral loyalty drives both the number of categories from which a person buys and the level of spending dispersion across those categories. These findings have significant implications for cross-selling strategies.