Purpose: Consumer purchasing behaviour has changed substantially in the light of recent developments in E-Commerce. So-called 'multichannel customers' tend to switch retail channels during the purchasing process. In order to address changing consumer behaviours, multichannel fashion retailing companies must continue to learn how to provide excellent service to such customers. Drawing on expectation confirmation theory, this paper aims to investigate the drivers for service quality from the perspective of multichannel fashion customers.Design/methodology: This paper approaches the topic of multichannel service quality by adopting a social constructionist research paradigm, utilising an abductive approach and an embedded case study research strategy. It aims to explore the lived experiences and perspectives of individuals in the context of an evolving complex and multidimensional phenomenon. The paper seeks information-rich cases and therefore views service quality through the eyes of experienced German multichannel customers. A customer perspective helps to explain the phenomenon of multichannel service quality and helps to disclose the meaning that these customers give to it. The sample size for this research consisted of 18 in-depth interviews and two focus groups including ten focus group participants. As such, a process of methodological triangulation was followed.Findings: Integration quality is identified as the essence of competitive advantage for multichannel retailers. The paper conceptualises integration quality as a catalyst, which plays a supporting role in reinforcing the reactions of the physical and electronic service quality in order to provide an optimised service quality experience.Originality/value: This paper looks at retailer/customer interactions in the context of purchases of a fashion product at a retailer using different retail channels. It highlights the distinctive requirements of multiple-channel systems within which the focus should not only be to enhance and improve physical and/or electronic service quality, but must also be about the integration of the service offers of each channel. The paper contributes to the interpretation of multichannel service quality with a new concept that explains the phenomenon from the perspective of customers.
Purpose Consumer purchasing behaviour has changed substantially in the light of recent developments in E-commerce. So-called “multichannel customers” tend to switch retail channels during the purchasing process. In order to address changing consumer behaviour, multichannel fashion retailing companies must continue to learn how to provide excellent service to such customers. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the interpretation of multichannel service quality by explaining it from the perspective of the so-called “multichannel customers”. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on social influence theory, this paper aims to investigate these issues from the perspective of multichannel customers. In contrast with dualist and objectivist studies, this paper uses a constructivist epistemology and ethnographic methodology. Such an approach is associated with an interpretivist ontological worldview, which postulates the existence of “multiple realities”. The sample size for this research consisted of 34 in-depth interviews and 2 focus groups comprising 10 focus group participants. Findings The data analysis fundamentally found that multichannel customers tended to continually adjust choices regarding retailer and retail ckhannel when making purchases. The perspective of this paper is different from mainstream positivist service quality research which sees service quality as static, objectively measurable and dualistic. As an alternative, this paper acknowledges service quality as a dynamic, subjective and pluralistic phenomenon. Originality/value This paper contributes to the interpretation of multichannel service quality with a new concept that explains the phenomenon from the perspective of customers and thus considers it necessary for multichannel retailers to adopt strategies relating to customers’ changing behaviour.
In omni-channel retailing, the combination of different retail channels along the different customer touchpoints has become the predominant purchasing pattern for customers. The consumers´ purchasing behavior has changed tremendously with the development of e-commerce. The so-called omni-channel customers tend to switch retail channels during their purchasing process. In order to address changing consumer behavior, omni-channel fashion retailing companies still need to learn how to be able to provide an excellent service to these customers. This chapter aims to investigate this phenomenon from the perspective of omni-channel customers.
The consumers´ purchasing behaviour has changed tremendously with the development of multichannel retailing. Consumers nowadays tend to switch retail channels during their purchasing process. In this context, the term ‘omni-channel retailing' can be considered as the most advanced stage of a multichannel-retailing system, implying full customer interaction and retailer integration. In order to address changing consumer behaviour, multichannel retailing companies still need to learn how to be able to provide a seamless interaction with customers through multiple channels. In this context, the evaluation and understanding of service quality in multichannel retailing companies has developed and has become a topic of major interest for both academics and practitioners. The purpose of this chapter is to provide some insights about the concept of multichannel integration considering the different elements of the retail-mix.
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