Trigger factors in brick and click shopping

Abstract

Purpose: The goal of this research is to describe the customer’s purchase path in different shopping channels and to identify which are the trigger factors that motivate the choice of every shopping channel. The description of the factors that motivate this seamless experience across all channels will provide brands with knowledge about how to improve their strategic approach to engagement, belonging and retention of customers.Design/methodology/approach: This paper builds propositions about the trigger factors for shopping channel choice based on thirty reports from the main consultancy companies made during the last five years and coded regarding the main topics highlighted in the literature. Findings: The findings of this study indicate that there are common trigger factors for every shopping channel and for every stage of the purchase path.Research limitations / implications: The data are from different countries, segments and products although they show common patterns.Originality/value: To date, little research in a complete vision of the shopping paths has been done. The definition of the different paths and the trigger factors associated to each one is unique and will help further research in this area.

Customer’s Choice of Purchasing Channel: Do Channel Characteristic, Brand, and Loyalty Matter When Shopping in Hybrid Retailers?

“…The consumers can get a large amount of information about product attributes and its availability. They can compare prices and overall value proposition very quickly or get online recommendations from different sources [17][18][19].…”

Omnichannel Strategy and Consumer Behavior in Distribution Channels: Trends in the Ophthalmology Sector

“…Customers used to visit brick-and-mortar stores to gather information with the help of salespeople to find what they wanted or needed, often concluding their shopping there (Mármol and Fernández, 2019). Physical stores were one of the few available sources of product information but nowadays the arrival of digital devices has increased the number of sources of information.…”

“…Moreover, customer goes in and out of different channels to use the benefits of each channel offers rather than staying with one type of channel, what is known as omnichannel behavior (Verhoef et al, 2007(Verhoef et al, , 2015Kang et al, 2019). Omnis is a Latin word meaning "all" or "universal, " so omnichannel means "all channels together" (Mármol and Fernández, 2019). Omnichannel shopping offers an integrated strategy where the different channels interact with each other and are used simultaneously in both the process of information seeking and the process of purchasing (Puccinelli et al, 2009).…”

“…On one hand, Kang et al (2019) explain that the offline channel is facing with dramatic decline while online channel through various digital channel such as mobile sales shows significant growth. This effect can be due to online distribution has grown through the cannibalization of brick-and-mortar stores (Mármol and Fernández, 2019). From the perspective of traditional channel point of view, such situation is considered crisis (Sopadjieva et al, 2017).…”

“…On the other hand, some experts argue that both offline and online channels are able to be consistent, concurrent and compatible (Gabisch and Gwebu, 2011;Melero et al, 2016) and coexist due to physical establishments are mutating under digital transformation, changing the way customers shop nowadays (Gallino and Moreno, 2014;Mármol and Fernández, 2019). Melis et al (2015) and Melero et al (2016) highlight the importance to understand what drive customers to every channel so that companies can offer them a satisfactory purchase experience.…”