Crafting the customer experience in omnichannel contexts: The role of channel integration

Abstract

Although the customer experience is a key factor in helping firms gain a competitive advantage, the knowledge regarding how to provide a superior customer experience in an omnichannel retailing environment remains limited. To fill this research gap, this study investigated and compared the effects of channel integration on cognitive and affective customer experiences. The findings suggest that integrated efforts encompassing promotion, product and price, and transaction information are more influential in enhancing the cognitive customer experience than the affective customer experience. Furthermore, integrated customer service has a weaker effect on the cognitive customer experience than on the affective customer experience. The results also indicate that integrated information access and order fulfillment do not differ significantly in their contributions to cognitive and affective customer experiences. These findings enhance the literature on the customer experience and channel integration. They also offer insightful implications for omnichannel retailers in terms of creating and managing the customer experience.