This study aims to clarify the performance attributes of logistical service that retailers identify as more relevant to their suppliers’ distribution process in urban areas. And, this task was performed using the Stated Preference Technique, a tool not so widespread among operations management researchers. The research focused the small retail food stores in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, considering the complexity involved in the delivery of perishable and fragile foods. As result, the technique show us the relative importance of the attributes related to the service level, highlighting the high degree of relevance achieved by the attributes that define the service level. This means that gaps in services are not easily shadowed by compensatory practices of stock build-up, which are financially very burdensome or unviable in terms of storage area. This kind of approach may call attention to opportunities of improving buyer-supplier relationships and the management of these processes, as well as public issues.
