About Our Center
From Purpose to Performance: generating knowledge that will help retailers, manufacturers, consumers and society to find the right balance, along three specific pillars: Serving Customers, Caring for the Planet, and Protecting the Customer
The Center for Responsible Retailing @UM (CRRUM) at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics is a globally leading institute that advances knowledge on responsible retailing. We offer high-quality, scientifically rigorous research on the deployment of marketing mix instruments (4 Ps), understanding customers and the customer journey, health and well-being, and digitalization in retail settings.
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Our vision is to facilitate the move from Purpose to Performance, helping to find a sustainable balance between retailers, manufacturers, consumers and society.
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The mission of CRRUM is to develop and disseminate an innovative and high-quality body of knowledge concerning responsible retailing. We do so by engaging in academic and applied research, teaching, training, conferences, networking and other outlets. We make our knowledge available to retailers and manufacturers, governmental bodies, consultants, NGOs and academic institutes. Our center focuses on three themes that contribute to our understanding of responsible retailing: Serving Customers, Caring for the Planet, and Protecting the Customer
Our Pillars
Serving Customers:
Retailers need a thorough understanding of their customers in order to serve them effectively. Increasingly, this means obtaining knowledge on individual customer needs and behaviour in order to create individualized and personalized customer experiences. Digitalization facilitates these needs, both in the physical and digital world. Opportunities exist when it comes to selecting the right communication and transaction touchpoints at the right time during an individual's customer journey. Identifying messages that resonate with customers is another opportunity. At the same time, the challenge arises to avoid overpersonalization and to responsibly use data analyses and technology (such as A.I. algorithms) to shape the customer experience while maintaining customer privacy.
Caring for the Planet:
Responsible retailers recognize that the planet is another key “stakeholder” in their business. At the same time, there is a growing consumer desire for initiatives that protect the planet. This presents a unique opportunity for retailers to display their commitment to the environment and at the same time grow in a highly competitive grocery retail environment. They can for example expand their offering of environmentally (e.g. organic, natural) and socially (e.g. animal welfare, fair trade) sustainable products. In addition, initiatives arise to fulfil last-mile delivery in a less expensive and more environmentally friendly way. As there are many such opportunities for retailers to reduce their impact, one can wonder about their effectiveness. In particular, as overstating positive environmental effects can backfire. In order to promote sustainable purchasing habits, it is essential to gain an understanding of consumers’ perception regarding environmentally responsible products and behaviors.
Protecting the Customers:
Following the turbulent years of the pandemic, consumers nowadays are becoming more anxious in the face of the soaring inflation and reduce their consumption behavior leading to less customer demand. This leaves retailers with the challenge which strategies to apply to cope with this inflation-caused consumption smoothing. Retailers might be inclined to use less responsible, covert strategies like shrinkflation (i.e., package-sized reduction without corresponding price decrease) without knowing the mid- and long-term consequences (e.g., decrease in trust, brand equity). Hence, better understanding is needed of how different responsible and less responsible strategies affects consumers and their consumption behavior. But how can retailers serve their customers efficiently and responsibly at the same time? The consequences of unhealthy consumer behavior are also becoming increasingly apparent in today’s society (e.g., obesity). Thus, how to promote healthier food choices, influence consumer behavior, and determine the responsibility that should be allocated to retailers serves as key challenge for policy makers.