Can offline–online congruence explain online loyalty in electronic commerce?

Abstract

PurposeOne key issue to be addressed in multichannel retailing strategies has to do with ensuring the consistency of the retailer offerings between the brick-and-mortar and the online stores to offer their customers a seamless experience. This study assesses whether perceived congruence may be relevant to identify segments of heterogeneous based on their online loyalty levels as well as other constructs and variables related to the customer relationship with the retailer for two different product categories.Design/methodology/approachFrom the responses of apparel and electronics multichannel shoppers to an online survey, a CHAID algorithm was performed to identify the most relevant congruence attribute(s) perceived by customers for predicting their loyalty levels toward the online store.FindingsThe results have allowed the identification of five segments of online shoppers, both for apparel and for electronics retailing, so that customers showing the highest scores in all congruence attributes also showed a higher loyalty toward the online store.Research limitations/implicationsThis study presents a first insight into the link between perceived congruence and online loyalty in retailing using a CHAID segmentation-based approach by differentiating various dimensions of perceived congruence for two product categories.Practical implicationsThe results obtained allow for inferring a series of strategies and actions that retailers can adopt for improving perceived congruence between physical and online stores along with a series of dimensions, and ultimately, increase online loyalty.Originality/valueAs the interest of the literature on perceived congruence between offline and online stores is relatively recent, this exploratory research contributes to shedding light on the implications of specific congruence dimensions between the offline and the online store in terms of consumer online loyalty in all multicategory setting.

Enemies to frenemies: coopetition between online and offline retailers amidst crises

“…Omnichannel operations necessitate significant investments in technology, people and logistics (Mishra, 2021) and thus are more feasible amongst the larger BM retailers. An effective multichannel strategy results in higher sales and retailer competitiveness (Ruiz-Molina et al, 2021). In the US, with a recovery in progress, offline store revenues were expected to outgrow those of online stores "on a dollar basis" (Stern, 2021).…”

“…A global survey found that whilst in November 2020, only 34% of shoppers confirmed considerable "interactions with physical stores", this figure rose to 67% by November 2021 (Capgemini Research Institute, 2022). Moreover, several BM retailers also added online channels "in competition with pure-play e-tailers" (Ruiz-Molina et al, 2021). During SDCC, apart from increased competition, greater operational difficulties and changes in customer profile and behaviour emerge as factors that demand an increase in offline presence by e-tailers.…”

“…In the early stages of COVID-19, e-tailers emerged stronger visa-vis BM retailers. However in the advanced stages, BM retailers regained their strength and ventured online too (Ruiz-Molina et al, 2021). Given such shifts in the competitive landscape and that online and offline retailers bring strengths that complement each other (Chopra, 2016), it becomes important to study coopetition opportunities between e-tailers and BM retailers during events such as SDCC.…”

Integrating online and offline channels for online customer loyalty: the moderating role of retailer credibility

“…OOCI has been presented as a key perspective in explaining customer behavior (Ruiz-Molina et al, 2021). In this regard, researchers have mainly investigated the relationship between OOCI and consumer behavior, such as the role of channel integration on customers' omnichannel service usage (Shen et al, 2018), customer engagement (Lee et al, 2019), customer loyalty (Quach et al, 2020) and customer retention (Li et al, 2018).…”

“…OOCI has been presented as a key perspective in explaining customer behavior (Ruiz-Molina et al. , 2021).…”