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This paper aims to examine the effect of cross‐channel integration of an advertiser's television spot that invited viewers to play an online game and web site that featured the game on consumers' perceived media engagement and brand attitudes. An important factor, personal involvement is also to be examined.

In total, 185 college students participate in an experimental study on participation and involvement. Participants fill out surveys and personal involvement is determined using various advertisements.

The results reveal that interaction effects are evident between cross‐channel integration of advertising and personal involvement on media engagement and brand attitudes.

This study is limited, investigating only one brand, one product category, and two media that can feature advertising messages regarding cross‐channel integration. Future studies should investigate the cross‐channel integration effect on different segments of target consumers.

Advertisers should consider enhancing their media strategies. In particular, advertisers should manage a media plan that includes specific sets of contacts to enhance the effects of cross‐channel integration of advertising.

The paper helps substantiate the strategic value of cross‐channel integration of advertising on branding by assessing the value of cross‐channel integration of advertising.

For consumers, cross-channel behaviour is increasingly prevalent. Such behaviour involves consumers actively engaging in (and deriving benefit) from one channel during a product search but switching to another channel when making a purchase. Drawing on multi-attribute utility theory, this study proposes a cross-channel behaviour typology consisting of three key aspects: channel choice behaviour, functional and economic outcomes and consumer-specific psychographic and demographic variables.

Segmentation analysis conducted via latent class analysis (LCA) was performed on a sample of 400 US consumers collected via an online survey.

Cross-channel behaviour is not always intentional. We identify a specific segment of consumers that most often engage in unplanned, rather than intentional, cross-channel switching. We find that of all shoppers that engage in cross-channel behaviour, a fifth (20%) are forced to switch channels at the point of purchase.

Cross-channel behaviour can be mitigated by retailers via a deep understanding of the driving factors of different configurations of showrooming and webrooming.

In contrast with existing conceptualisations, this study suggests that cross-channel behaviour often stems from consumers being “forced” by factors outside of their control, but within the retailers' control. This research presents a nuanced approach to decompose consumer cross-channel behaviour from the consumer perspective as planned, forced or opportunistic.

Cross-channel integration improves the operations of multi-channel and omnichannel marketing and increase firms' overall performance. By addressing the extant gaps in current literature, this configurational analysis aims to test the combined effects of organizational, channel and environmental factors on cross-channel integration.

Data were collected from a sample of 180 manufacturers. Necessary condition analysis (NCA) was used to test whether two organizational factors (firm size and IT capability), one environmental factor (environmental dynamism) and two channel factors (channel diversity and proportion of direct channels) were necessary or unnecessary conditions for high cross-channel integration. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was applied to analyze the configurational factors of high vs low cross-channel integration.

First, firm size and IT capability are non-linear and substitute for each other in affecting cross-channel integration in a diversified channel system with a high proportion of direct channels. Second, in a dynamic environment, firms with large size and IT advantage could achieve high cross-channel integration by diversifying channel types or increasing the proportion of direct channels. Third, the effect of channel diversity and proportion of direct channels on cross-channel integration is asymmetric depending on other antecedent conditions.

The authors tested a configurational framework developed from multiple theoretical perspectives. The authors' empirical findings contribute to the literature by providing insights into the mechanisms underlying the formation of high and low cross-channel integration. The results suggest multiple ways for firms to promote cross-channel integration by adjusting channel factors based on configurational conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of consumer shopping orientations on consumer's channel choice, cross‐channel shopping behavior, and shopping outcomes.

Using multiple sources of data including surveys of store, web, and cross‐channel shoppers and their transaction information, the impact of consumer shopping orientations on comparison‐shopping, likelihood of cross‐channel usage, purchase outcomes including unplanned purchasing, retailer satisfaction, intent to return/abandon purchases, and share of category purchases are investigated.

Results suggest that high‐thrift customers patronizing a cross‐channel retailer are less likely to search for competitive offerings online or offline than customers patronizing a multiple channel retailer. Further, retailer satisfaction is higher for cross‐channel compared to multi‐channel retailers irrespective of the transaction channel used by consumers.

The data have external validity; however, they lack the control possible in laboratory experiments. Future research should examine if the findings can be replicated in multiple retail sectors.

These results suggest that brick‐and‐click retailers can exploit synergies between their channels through order online and pick up in store strategies for greater profitability than those who operate multiple independent channels.

This paper examines managerial implications of multiple independent channel vs cross‐channel strategies by retailers using data from customers of a commercial retailer.

Research to date has yet to reach a consensus regarding the role of cross-channel consistency in omni-channel retailing. Therefore, this study aims to clarify the impact of cross-channel consistency on brand trust and loyalty by differentiating four dimensions of consistency (i.e. product, service, price and promotion consistency) and exploring the moderating roles of showrooming and webrooming motivation in these relationships.

A survey method is used to collect data. A total of 550 valid responses were obtained from multi-channel apparel brands' customers. Hypotheses were tested by employing structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

The results indicate that product and service consistency positively influence brand loyalty via brand trust, whereas price and promotion consistency do not. Furthermore, showrooming motivation negatively moderates the effects of service, price and promotion consistency on brand trust, while webrooming motivation positively moderates the effects of product, price and promotion consistency on brand trust.

This study contributes to the omni-channel retailing literature by examining the effects of different dimensions of cross-channel consistency and the moderating roles of showrooming and webrooming motivation to unravel the contradictions of previous studies. It reveals both the beneficial and dark sides of cross-channel consistency. It also extends the knowledge of brand building and cross-channel behavior in omni-channel retailing.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether consumers differ in their online or offline purchase intention, depending on which channel with price promotion information they are first exposed to, and to analyse the moderating role of brand trust.

Overall, 174 responses were obtained via an online survey using two contact channels (online/offline) by two levels of brand trust (high/low) between-subject designs.

Spillover effects were found across channels when a consistent price promotion is executed in both online and offline channels, purchase intentions for cross-channel and contact channel increase simultaneously. Although there was a similar effect in the discrepancy of purchase intentions towards the cross-channel according to contact channels, it varied depending on brand trust. When brand trust is high, having contact with offline price-discount information has a large online spillover effect. When brand trust is low, the spillover effect from online to offline is large.

This study expands the multi-channel research by proving the spillover effects between channels and confirming the difference according to brand trust.

Increasing promotion information for online contact is effective in driving offline visits for new brands, and the effective use of promotion information at offline stores can have a positive impact on online channels for well-known brands.

This study explores the cross-channel spillover effect of price promotion and proves that these effects depend on brand trust.

Purchasing behaviour across traditional retail and internet routes to market is becoming increasingly integrated. The positive and negative consequences of such behaviour for multi‐channel businesses have not been thoroughly examined – while an offline retail presence may reassure customers purchasing from an online channel, poor service online may negatively influence customer usage of an offline channel. This paper aims to address this issue.

A questionnaire survey of the online customers of four companies is employed and structural equation modelling used to investigate influences of demographic and behavioural variables (purchase involvement, loyalty, experience with the internet, company and product‐type) on positive and negative cross‐channel behaviour (CCB).

Strong evidence for both positive and negative customer CCB is found. Females, higher purchase involvement, higher loyalty and those with more experience of the company were more likely to display positive CCB; higher education, experience with the product type and online channel negatively influenced positive CCB. Increased age, education, occupation/class and purchase involvement lead to more negative CCB; product and company experience lead to reduced levels of negative CCB.

As a first step towards understanding of customer CCB the research generates many insights; however, more research is required to explore in more depth each of the constructs discussed and measured.

Understanding how different customer groups display different tendencies for CCB can help companies shape fulfilment and delivery strategies across different channels to market.

The study makes contributions to customer cross‐channel customer behaviour, developing implications for future research as well as management practice.

For many developing country citizens, traditional herbal medicines offer affordable alternatives to expensive orthodox options. Consumers learn about them from different sources including the packaging, which by regulatory demands must provide certain information. In countries such as Ghana, many herbal medicine brands combine packaging information with radio presenter mentions (PMs) as the primary modes of advertising. The purpose of this study is to compare radio PMs of herbal medicines to their packaging information to see how consistent they are in providing credible information to consumers.

The study uses comparative qualitative content analysis to compare information about disease indications, directions for use and warnings/cautions as provided on the packaging and in PMs to gauge the extent of their congruence.

Findings show that there are substantial cross-channel message differences. These differences range from under-representation to sometimes, blatant misinformation, suggesting the possibility that audiences will have difficulty relying on them for decisions.

This study only addressed issues with the manifest content of herbal drugs’ packaging and PMs. It does not include any interviews with consumers to gauge the extent of their consciousness of the lapses identified, and how they are affected by such. In addition, the study sample is context-specific. Ghana presents an interesting setting for the study but it is none-the-less only one country, denying us the power to generalize the findings.

The study points to a need to pay closer attention to message salience and consistency where multiple channels are used in promoting herbal medicinal products. Due to their historically traditional context of consumption in many developing countries, regulatory frameworks on herbal medicine markets are often lax. This study calls attention to a need for better policing on how herbal medicinal products promote themselves, particularly where they use multiple media channels that introduce variations into their messages.

The study calls attention to the credibility of cross-channel messages in supporting consumers of medicinal products. Secondly, because of the predominance of the normative view in medical advertising, channels such as PMs that accommodate message variation and improvisation have eluded critical analysis. By its focus on the presenter mention advertising format, the study also draws attention of health communication scholars to begin to include emerging modes of medical advertising in their analysis.

Building on the theoretical paradigms of consumer free-riding and cognitive dissonance, this study aims to evaluate whether consumers’ cognitive effort when making a purchase decision impacts upon the relationship between free-riding habits and postpurchase cognitive dissonance.

To explore the relationship between cross-channel free-riding, cognitive efforts and cognitive dissonance, a framework was conceptualized and empirically tested on a sample of 518 Italian consumers. Covariance-based structural equation modeling and bootstrapped mediation analysis was performed with the PROCESS macro.

Results show that the more cognitively involved a free-riding consumer is, the more he/she will experience postpurchase cognitive dissonance.

Modern consumers habitually finalize their purchase activities through multiple different channels. The abundance of e-commerce/online platforms does indeed offer consumers a plethora of alternatives to physical/offline stores. Hence, consumers have been seen to act as “free-riders.” It is becoming more and more common for consumers to seek information in physical stores and then purchase a product online more conveniently. This notwithstanding, it has emerged that free-riding consumers tend to experience cognitive dissonance – which is a sensation of emotional discomfort – after making their purchases. The causes of this phenomenon are yet to be fully unpacked.

Nowadays companies are constantly changing their retail settings and strategies to keep up with technological developments and consumer needs. Digital transformation enabled one’s shopping experience to be more efficient in terms of money, time, physical effort and other elements that determine the price a consumer has to pay. Channels of communication and distribution have evolved, increased in number and also became integrated. Mobile devices, mobile applications and location services help consumers in their shopping journey. These developments have led us to a new concept called omni-channel management. In theory, the omni-channel refers to a single and unified channel experience with multiple touchpoints, which include physical stores, online stores and direct marketing; mass communication channels (television, radio, print media, C2C, etc.), online channels (social media, search engines, comparison sites, e-mail, display etc.) and mobile channels (SMS, branded apps, etc.). Some examples of omni-channel practices are click-reserve, click-collect, tablets as in-store sales tools, in-store product order through mobile apps, etc.

In this chapter, the latest trends in marketing channels are discussed with enabling digital technologies and relevant success factors. Challenges and opportunities in implementing omni-channel strategies and several omni-channel initiatives from Turkey are reported.

A research was employed to present consumers’ preferences of touchpoints/channels for search, payment and delivery, and to find out the drivers that lead consumers to use more than one channel simultaneously and/or interchangeably in a buying process. The results will guide the readers to understand consumer behaviour in the new omni-channel world.