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We investigate the critical role of retail buyer innovativeness in Japanese buyer–supplier relationships and explore its link to suppliers’ adaptive selling, cooperative relationships, and retail competitiveness. Further, we examine how process conflict between merchandizing and store divisions moderates the relationship between retail buyer innovativeness and suppliers’ adaptive selling. This study employs a structural equation model using survey data from 246 heads of merchandizing divisions at Japanese retail companies. Our findings highlight the importance of both mitigating process conflict and facilitating suppliers’ adaptive selling in order to improve Japanese retailers’ competitiveness, especially when buyers are highly innovative.