Assessing the moderating effect of brick-and-mortar store on omnichannel retailing

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the moderating effects of brick-and-mortar (BM) store characteristics and customer satisfaction on the relationship between ship-to-store (STS) retailing and BM store performance in an emerging economy. The purpose is to explore how BM store characteristics and customer satisfaction influence online buying behaviour when customers visit the stores to pick up their products.Design/methodology/approachThis study collected secondary longitudinal data from 615 BM stores from one of Brazil's largest retailers and performed a panel-data regression analysis using the following moderating variables: customer satisfaction with BM stores, BM store's size, convenience and inventory transparency.FindingsCustomer satisfaction with BM stores moderates the effect of STS transactions on the revenue per store. Results also show that BM store's convenience, size and inventory transparency moderate STS online customers' impact on BM store cross-sales.Research limitations/implicationsThe STS strategy can increase online and BM store performance. Some BM store characteristics and customer satisfaction influence online customers to buy more products when they visit BM stores to pick up their products, providing a more complex model for the relationship between STS strategy and BM store performance.Practical implications Companies in emerging economies can use the BM store more strategically in combination with the STS strategy to increase overall retailer performance. By managing some BM store characteristics, managers can improve retail sales.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates how new moderating factors expand the understanding of the relationship between online and physical retailing in emerging economies. Also, the panel data regression results control for extraneous variables and provide more robust evidence of the relationships observed.