Multichannel Retailing: A Review
                  and Research Agenda

Li, Huan; Lobschat, Lara; Verhoef, Peter C.

doi:10.1561/1700000059

Cited by 47 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Ailawadi and Farris (2017) argued that while the term 'multichannel retailing' focuses on managing and optimising the performance of each channel, 'omnichannel retailing' focuses on integrating activities within and across channels. However, these concepts are still used indistinctly in the context of retailers who sell products through their own offline and online channels (Ailawadi & Farris, 2017;Beck & Rygl, 2015;Liu, Lobschat, & Verhoef, 2018). Drawing on Lobschat and Verhoef (2018), this paper uses the term 'multichannel retailing' as an umbrella term to embrace all the different forms of multiple channel systems that can be found in retailing.…”

Section: Multichannel Retailingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service quality in multichannel fashion retailing: an exploratory study

Patten

Ozuem

Howell

2020

ITP

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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.

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Section: Multichannel Retailingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service quality in multichannel fashion retailing: an exploratory study

Patten

Ozuem

Howell

2020

ITP

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“…Furthermore, prior research has studied whether online and offline channels are complementary or synergetic (e.g., Avery et al 2012;Deleersnyder et al 2002;Pauwels and Neslin 2015;Wang and Goldfarb 2017). In their synthesis of the literature, Liu, Lobschat, and Verhoef (2018) conclude that substantial channel differentiation may alleviate cannibalization occurring between similar channels (e.g., mobile and online channels). However, such differentiation also leads consumers to perceive lower consistency in the retailer's channel mix and a less seamless experience during multichannel shopping, which may reduce retailer performance.…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating the Last Mile: The Demand Effects of Click-and-Collect Order Fulfillment

Gielens

Gijsbrechts²,

Geyskens³

2020

Journal of Marketing

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Many retailers are rushing into the click-and-collect (C&C) format, where shoppers place orders online and pick up the goods themselves later. The authors study the demand implications of C&C and postulate how different ways of organizing this format—each with its own convenience features—appeal to households with different shopper characteristics. Using two data sets, each covering the introduction of two C&C fulfillment types by a major grocery retailer in a large number of local markets, the authors compare the impact of in-store fulfillment (pickup at existing stores), near-store fulfillment (pickup at outlets adjoining stores), and stand-alone fulfillment (pickup at free-standing locations). The authors find that the shift in online consumer spending significantly differs between the three order fulfillment types, as does the impact on total spending. No one order fulfillment type systematically dominates; the effects depend heavily on shopper characteristics. The study’s results provide guidance on which C&C fulfillment type(s) to operate under what conditions and caution retailers not to take the easy in-store route routinely.

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“…Indeed, in spite of the rich extant literature on the multichannel construct (of which we give a thorough account in the next Sect. 2), and of a broad understanding of their determinants and implications, including the research shopping and channel synergy phenomena, several aspects of customer multichannel behaviours in the service industries (as opposed to the shopping of goods) still require further investigation (Liu et al 2018), while specific calls have been made for further studies considering channel choice decisions in multichannel environments, particularly aimed at investigating the interdependencies between the search and the purchase choices (Verhoef et al 2007). Compared to previous studies on multichannel shopping, this paper focuses specifically on the services industries and introduces a thorough classification of search patterns and a comprehensive set of customer behaviour determinants, specifically at the psychographic level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multichannel search patterns and webrooming behaviours in the service industries: the case of motor insurance

Tracogna

2021

Ital. J. Mark.

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This article aims at analysing the empirical categories and the main determinants of channel choices in the contractualized individual services category, with particular reference to multichannel search patterns and webrooming behaviours, whereby customers search online but purchase offline (namely, at the service provider’s premises). Based on an international survey of motor insurance customers, a set of hypotheses on the determinants of customers’ shopping journeys, inclusive of search and purchase channel decisions, have been tested with a multinomial logistic regression. Our results show that channel choices—both relative to search and to purchase—are significantly influenced by the customer’s preference for personal interaction (which typically favours the personal, offline, channels); overall, the relevance of channel choice determinants differs in the different shopping phases: indeed, while the search patterns (mono vs. multiple; digital vs. personal) are mainly determined by the customer need for information and by her/his preference for shopping innovation and enjoyment, the purchase channel choices are mainly driven by the customer’s preference for service quality (personal purchase) and by his/her price consciousness (digital purchase). In particular, webrooming behaviours occur when a less price-conscious customer, after having actively explored multiple channels to satisfy the appetite for information, eventually prefers to purchase the service at the provider’s physical store (i.e. the insurance agent) to satisfy his/her preference for personal interaction and service quality. These results shed light on multichannel behaviours in service industries and may help providers better inform the retail strategies of contractualized individual services.

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Multichannel Retailing: A Review and Research Agenda

Cited by 47 publications

References 10 publications

Service quality in multichannel fashion retailing: an exploratory study

Service quality in multichannel fashion retailing: an exploratory study

Navigating the Last Mile: The Demand Effects of Click-and-Collect Order Fulfillment

Multichannel search patterns and webrooming behaviours in the service industries: the case of motor insurance

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