Multichannel Retailing Research Articles

Assessing customers’ perceived value of the online channel of multichannel retailers: A two country examination

Given the constant and often dramatic technological advancements that facilitate retailing, especially online channel adoption by industry and customers, research focusing on customers perceived value of the online channel of multi-channel retailer’s requires conceptual and empirical elaboration. This study advances understanding of customer perceived online channel value and how customer perceptions of value effect online channel satisfaction and online channel loyalty. Using data from a multi-country study, we provide a deeper understanding for multi-channel retailers of how to balance investments in various value drivers to enhance online channel satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Identifying Central And Peripheral Dimensions Of Store And Website Image: Applying The Elaboration Likelihood Model To Multichannel Retailing

Could the difficulties that retailers face in creating a seamless, cross-channel experience be due to the fact that their stores and website activate such different central and peripheral routes to persuasion that perfect transferability between channels is not possible? By relying on a rigorous and innovative dual-step methodology, this study provides a solid support for research aimed at identifying other channel-related central and peripheral elements. Although perceptual structure of the two channels is very similar, the store and website have no central or peripheral dimension in common. To enhance fluidity between its channels, a multi-channel retailer cannot rely on the customers' perceived integration of its channels. However, the retailer can easily orient its customers toward a given channel, by appealing to their enduring involvement. Finally, pricing and sales promotions are both peripheral dimensions: the former influences in-store buying and the latter, website buying.

EXPERIENTIAL E-LUXURY: THE RISE OF ONLINE FASHION BRANDING

EXPERIENTIAL E-LUXURY: THE RISE OF ONLINE FASHION BRANDING

Operations management in multi-channel retailing: an exploratory study

Multi-channel (MC) shopping is revolutionizing retail operations. For traditional retailers, the growing importance of online sales means creating new supply chain models. This requires a solid understanding of the operations processes. Current literature on MC management focuses on customer perspectives, but only touches on the operational aspects. The primary goal of this study is therefore to give a comprehensive overview of the operations structures of MC retailing, identify the operations systems in use and analyze their planning interdependencies. We identify network design, inventory management, warehouse operations and capacity management as the areas of MC operations planning. Their planning interdependencies are investigated. We analyze the different MC networks and the associated inventory management approaches as well as the various design concepts in warehouse operations. The efficiency of integrating warehouse operations is the core lever for integrated MC operations. While inventory pooling favors integrated networks, channel-specific operational challenges are a reason to simplify structures and operate separate networks. Specific operational design options (e.g., in picking and scheduling) are identified to optimally complement the network design selected. Company examples also give an idea of how to efficiently design the coordination of on- and offline logistics. Retailers can gain important insights into how to further develop their systems. We used an explorative approach to identify structures and processes in a relatively new research area. We questioned 43 executives from 33 different European-based leading companies in MC retailing in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. This paper describes the results of what is currently the largest study on MC operations.

Impacts of U.S. affluent consumers' luxury goods consumption beliefs on repeat purchases of luxury goods: Generational and gender comparison analyses

This study examined the influences of affluent US consumers' beliefs about luxury consumption of goods on their repeat purchases of luxury goods in a multichannel retail environment. We also compared luxury goods consumption beliefs among different generations and gender groups. From a national US sample, we obtained 1066 usable responses, using a self-administered online survey. We used univariate and multivariate analyses to examine the research questions. The consumers' beliefs about luxury goods consumption resulted in four dimensions: (1) importance of signaling status through luxury goods consumption, (2) knowledge about luxury goods and brands, (3) experiential aspect of a luxury retailer, and (4) luxury goods purchase and consumption experiences. We found significant mean differences among generational cohorts in Factors 1, 3 and 4. As proposed, female affluent consumers predominantly exhibited statistically higher mean scores on all four factors as compared to their male counterparts. By comparing generational cohorts and genders with regard to their luxury consumption beliefs and their repeat luxury goods purchases made at department stores, this paper offers insights into affluent US consumers' beliefs and actual behavior that are of value for the managerial strategic directions in luxury manufacturing and retailing industries.

The impact of brand experiences on brand resonance in multi-channel fashion retailing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how sensory, cognitive, affective experiences affect relational brand experience in regards to different channels (i.e. online vs store), how relational brand experience influences brand awareness and brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – By employing self-administered questionnaires, the data on 393 respondents were collected from students enrolled at a major southwestern university in the USA. The moderation regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses and propositions. Findings – The study supports most of the hypotheses and propositions regarding the impacts of brand experiences on brand resonance in multi-channel retailing. The moderating effects of channel type are founded in relationships between sensory experience, affective experience and relational experience. Further, relational experience impacts on brand awareness and loyalty in any channel. Research limitations/implications – Given the exploratory nature of this approach, there are methodological limitations in generalizing research findings. However, the study solidifies the branding theory by understanding the multi-dimensional brand experience, and moderating effects of channel type enrich brand experience managements in the multi-channel retailing for fashion brands. Practical implications – This study implies that relational experience through sensory, affective and cognitive brand experiences in multiple-channel setting has a huge business potential to concrete consumer and brand value. Originality/value – This study substantiates the robust effects of brand experiences on brand resonance and the causal structure of multi-dimensional aspects of brand experiences in conjunction with the moderating effect of channel type.

The impact of a homogenous versus a prototypical Web design on online retail patronage for multichannel providers

For their online shops, multichannel retailers must decide whether to adopt a prototypical design (with channel-specific attributes) or a homogenous design (with cues corresponding to their physical stores). While most retailers use a prototypical design, we propose that the effectiveness of a Web design depends on customers’ cognitive shopping orientations (i.e., specific schemas of store-based or web-based experiences) and their situational processing intensity (i.e., the level of cognitive processing). Three experiments reveal that a homogenous design increases online shop patronage among store-oriented customers if processing intensity is high; a prototypical design does not affect patronage among web-oriented customers. To capitalize on a homogenous design, multichannel retailers should activate customers’ cognitive processing, such as with non-competitive pricing or task involvement. If store-based orientation or cognitive processing is low across the customer base, a prototypical design works as well as a homogenous design. Because retailers can induce a store-based orientation through highly visible physical cues in stores, multichannel retailing may evolve to a competition for customers’ mindsets.

Engaging consumers on new integrated multichannel retail settings: Challenges for retailers

The rapid diffusion of more channels for shopping posits new challenges for retailers, who need to compete in a complex environment for avoiding the problem of consumer cross-channel free riding. To discourage this behaviour, we propose a new environment where one retailer simultaneously handles more channels. The emerging integrated environment would engage more consumers if compared to the single handled channel, which in turn would avoid switching behaviours towards competitors' channels. Our empirical research, based on the stimulus–organism–response paradigm, involves a sample of 237 consumers who were asked to explore the new retail settings simulated in a university lab. The results lead us to suggest the effective combination of multiple channels managed by one retailer as the new challenge for scholars and practitioners. We note that our participants showed positive emotional reactions towards the environment, which lead them to choose this environment for purchases.

The multichannel customer’s service experience: building satisfaction and trust

Multichannel retailers dominate today’s retail landscape. Practitioners and researchers are particularly interested in understanding how the multichannel strategy helps establishing and developing relationships with customers. Our findings, from 302 customers of multichannel financial services firms, show that frontline employees’ customer facilitation behaviors (traditional channel) have a stronger impact on satisfaction than e-psychological benefits (derived from the company’s Web site), while their positive influence on trust is not significantly different. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

From Multi-Channel Retailing to Omni-Channel Retailing: Introduction to the Special Issue on Multi-Channel Retailing

The world of retailing has changed dramatically in the past decade. The advent of the online channel and new additional digital channels such as mobile channels and social media have changed retail business models, the execution of the retail mix, and shopper behavior. Whereas multi-channel was in vogue in the last decade in retailing, we now observe a move to so-called omni-channel retailing. Omni-channel retailing is taking a broader perspective on channels and how shoppers are influenced and move through channels in their search and buying process. We discuss this development conceptually and subsequently discuss existing research in this multi-channel retailing. We also introduce the articles in this special issue on multi-channel retailing and position these articles in the new omni-channel movement. We end with putting forward a research agenda to further guide future research in this area.

An agent-based simulation of customer multi-channel choice behavior

Experimenting with multi-channel operations in reality is both costly and risky, because it can severely affect a firm’s revenues, profitability, customer churn, and other customer metrics. In this paper, we introduce an agent-based simulation approach as a means for exploring and analyzing the impact of (combinations of) multi-channel activities on customer channel choices before having implemented them in practice. The simulation takes into account the heterogeneity of customers, social dynamics in their behavior, and the various phases of the purchasing process. To this end, customers are represented by agents whose phase-specific channel perceptions determine their channel choices. These perceptions may be altered by communication with other agents, first-hand experience of the channel, and/or marketing activities. The approach is illustrated through a sample application for which data from an international multi-channel retailer as well as from an empirical study among Austrian customers have been used.

The Hare and the Tortoise: Do Earlier Adopters of Online Channels Purchase More?

Earlier adopters of a product or service tend to be more valuable than later adopters. Does this empirical generalization equally apply to earlier adopters of a multichannel retailer's new online channel too? This study segments customers on the basis of their responses to a new online channel and investigates the effects of their online channel adoption on purchase volumes across segments. The data cover 12.5 years of purchase history and individual transactions at a large multichannel French retailer of natural health products. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not innovators or early adopters, but rather the late majority segment that purchases more than the other segments, both before and after online adoption. Adoption of the firm's new online channel does not influence purchase volumes of heavy shopper segments (late majority and innovators), whereas light shopper segments tend to increase their purchases after adopting this new channel.

The Impact of the Multi-channel Retail Mix on Online Store Choice: Does Online Experience Matter?

More and more grocery retailers are becoming multi-channel retailers, as they are opening an online alternative next to their traditional offline supermarkets. While the number of multi-channel grocery shoppers is also expanding at a fast growth rate, there are still large differences in online shopping frequency, and as a result, in the levels of experience with buying in the online grocery channel. This study wants to (i) identify the underlying drivers of online store choice and (ii) explore if and how these drivers change when multi-channel shoppers gain online grocery shopping experience. We investigate this question with an online store choice model using purchase data of an extensive UK household panel over a two-year period, covering all multi-channel retailers in the grocery market. Our results show that multi-channel shoppers, at the start of online grocery shopping, tend to select the online store belonging to the same chain as their preferred offline store, especially when the online store is strongly integrated with the offline store in terms of assortment. When online grocery shopping experience increases, multi-channel shoppers’ focus shifts from a comparison within a chain across channels to a comparison across chains within the online channel, resulting in an increasing importance of online assortment attractiveness and online loyalty when choosing an online store.

Shopping Benefits of Multichannel Assortment Integration and the Moderating Role of Retailer Type

To what extent should multichannel retailers integrate assortments across channels? Previous literature controversially discusses the question of which integration strategy is most successful but arguments are only conceptual, and no empirical assessment exists. This article presents a framework that (a) shows how customers’ perceived shopping benefits of variety, convenience, and reduced risk mediate the impact of multichannel assortment integration (full, asymmetrical, no) on patronage intentions and (b) differentiates the impact for retailer types based on substitutive, complementary, and independent assortment relations. Two large-scale experimental studies empirically investigate whether a dominant integration strategy exists in the context of full and simultaneous information (Study 1) and more uncertain and subsequent information accessibility (Study 2). We consistently find that full integration dominates no integration across assortment relations, but asymmetrical integration—the strategy that is most often realized by multichannel retailers—can have a detrimental impact for substitutive relations compared with no integration. Asymmetrical integration can be more beneficial than full integration for independent relations, while customer outcomes differ less for complementary relations. Researchers and managers can use our findings to understand how shopping benefits of variety, convenience, and reduced risk explain the different customer outcomes of multichannel assortment integration, depending on retailer type.

Can Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Successfully Become Multichannel Retailers?

ABSTRACTThe critical success factors required by brick-and-mortar retailers to successfully transform into multichannel retailers are analyzed in this study. We identify threshold resources and success factors required to survive in the online retailing industry. We suggest that by leveraging their already existing assets and augmenting certain resources and capabilities, brick-and-mortar retailers would be able to exploit gaps in online retailing and use opportunities arising from them, thus gaining a competitive edge over online retailers.

Order fulfilment process for a large online retail in Singapore

Changes in customer shopping habits (e.g., using internet and mobile devices for shopping products and services) have created new channels for retailing and this development of new channels have made traditional retailers to relook at their operations and to offer their products and services through these new channels. The success of many online retailers such as Amazon.com has led to loss in market shares for traditional retailers. To cater to the changes in customer behaviour and to hedge against risk of losing market share to pure play online retailers, traditional retailers are looking at multi-channel retailing options, where customers can buy products and services through a wide range of channels depending on their needs. This paper examines different order fulfilment models that are used by many of the multi-channel retailers by considering the key resources, input and outputs required. And finally, it describes a costing model that can help to determine if the company need additional resources and the volume of orders required to break even.

Strategic Conditions for Opening an Internet Store and Pricing Policies in a Retailer-Dominant Supply Chain

To examine when the manufacturer and dominant retailer open their own Internet stores and how setting prices to ensure opening Internet stores are profitable. We consider a two-echelon supply chain with one manufacturer and one dominant retailer. The retailer has a physical store in a monopolist market. Depending on whether the Internet stores are opened successfully by them, we firstly obtain equilibrium prices and profits under four possible supply chain structures. Secondly, we identify several strategic conditions when it is optimal to open an Internet store for the manufacturer and dominant retailer and discuss its implications. It is interesting to note that multichannel retailing is not necessarily the best strategy for the dominant retailer. In addition, we investigate the impacts of problem parameters (the dominant retailer’s bargaining power and consumers’ disutility of purchasing a product from Internet store) on the manufacturer and dominant retailer’s pricing policies. We find that the manufacturer’s optimal price at her Internet store is not always being lower than the dominant retailer’s. Finally, we conduct numerical examples to illustrate the theoretical results.

Cross Channel Effects of Search Engine Advertising on Brick & Mortar Retail Sales: Meta Analysis of Large Scale Field Experiments on Google.com

Abstract We investigate the cross channel effects of search engine advertising on Google.com on sales in brick and mortar retail stores. Obtaining causal and actionable estimates in this context is challenging: Brick and mortar store sales vary widely on a weekly basis; offline media dominate the marketing budget; search advertising and demand are contemporaneously correlated; and estimates have to be credible to overcome agency issues between the online and offline marketing groups. We report on a meta-analysis of a population of 15 independent field experiments, in which 13 well-known U.S. multi-channel retailers spent over $4 Million in incremental search advertising. In test markets category keywords were maintained in positions 1-3 for 76 product categories with no search advertising on these keywords in the control markets. Outcomes measured include sales in the advertised categories, total store sales and Return on Ad Spending. We estimate the average effect of each outcome for this population of experiments using a Hierarchical Bayesian (HB) model. The estimates from the HB model provides causal evidence that increasing search engine advertising on broad keywords on Google.com had a positive effect on sales in brick and mortar stores for the advertised categories for this population of retailers. There also was a positive effect on total store sales. Hence the increase in sales in the advertised categories was incremental to the retailer net of any sales borrowed from non-advertised categories. The total store sales increase was a meaningful improvement compared to the baseline sales growth rates. The average Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is positive, does not breakeven on average although several retailers achieved or exceeded break-even based only on brick and mortar sales. We examine the robustness of our findings to alternative assumptions about the data specific to this set of experiments. Our estimates suggest online and offline are linked markets, that media planners should account for the offline effects in the planning and execution of search advertising campaigns, and that these effects should be adjusted by category and retailer. Extensive replication and a unique research protocol ensure that our results are general and credible.

New Trends in Commercial Technologies in Romania: Evolution of Electronic Commerce as Multichannel Retailing Instrument

Abstract In the context of rapid development of retail, using the new communication and information technologies is an effective way of ensuring competitiveness in this sector. Considering the fact that e-commerce is the most dynamic sales channel, an analysis of its evolution in Romania is particularly useful in terms of adapting to the global development trends. For this purpose were processed and analysed information obtained as a result of direct quantitative research (survey). The main conclusion of the research is that new commercial technologies will spread fast at a global level and this trend has already been seen in our country.

INVOLUNTARY DECISION MAKING THROUGH BIG DATA ANALYTICS FOR MULTICHANNEL RETAILERS

To compete in a consumer-empowered economy, it is increasingly clear that retailers must leverage their information assets to gain a comprehensive understanding of markets, customers, products, distribution locations, competitors and employees. Big Data allows retail merchandisers, marketers and customer relationship management professionals to create a highly specific and personal segmentation of consumers. This allows retailers to tailor products, offers and services to specific consumers. To apply big data analytics in multichannel retailers business domain allows retailers to provide loyalty cards, offers, and services to each and every customer, it improves revenue of retailers and customer satisfaction. HDFS provides a level of fault tolerance through data replication and R helps to prove the statistical computation and graphics.