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Observes that traditional retail, catalog, and online‐only businesses face a critical decision – to accept a new, yet unrefined business model that includes multiple channels or to retain their single channel model and risk becoming obsolete and left behind by new, multi‐channel competitors. The decision process and implementation of a multi‐channel strategy could be simplified if businesses understood what drives consumers to a single channel, multiple channels, and which channels are preferred. Outlines the key issues facing multi‐channel marketers, and encourages multi‐channel businesses to take a customer‐centric view rather than a channel focused view to work through the challenges unique to the multi‐channel marketer. A model of multi‐channel buyer behavior is proposed to help the multi‐channel marketer develop a customer‐centric view. Presents a series of propositions which serve to encourage and direct future research in this area.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of consumers' shopping orientation on their satisfaction level with the product search and purchase behavior using multi‐channels.

A total of 181 students in a large US mid‐western university provided usable responses to the survey. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analyses were employed to examine the research questions.

The results showed that more than three quarters of the respondents shopped via the internet and catalogs, and about 95 percent shopped at non‐local retailers. About 60 percent reported that they never shopped from TV shopping channels. Confident/fashion‐conscious shopping orientation and catalog/internet shopping orientation were found to be key predictors of customer satisfaction level with information search via multi‐channels. Both confident/fashion‐conscious consumers and mall shopping‐oriented shoppers were more satisfied with store‐based retail channels for apparel purchases, whereas non‐local store‐oriented shoppers and catalog/internet‐oriented shoppers were more satisfied with non‐store‐based retail channels for their apparel purchases.

The sample of this study was biased by gender and age. For the apparel retail industry, this paper offers practical knowledge about the relationships between shopping orientation and consumer search and purchase behavior in a multi‐channel retailing context.

No study has utilized the shopping orientation framework to explain consumer behavior in a multi‐channel environment. This study provides understanding of consumer product information search behavior on four dimensions (price, promotion, style/trends, and merchandise availability) via multi‐channels.

This study aims to examine whether gender, fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership, and need for touch have effects on consumers' multi‐channel choice and touch/non‐touch shopping channel preference in clothing shopping.

A survey was conducted using a convenience sample of 123 male and 154 female US college students. Data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18 and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) 18.

Results showed that participants' multi‐channel choice was influenced only by fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership such that consumers high in fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership tend to use more than one shopping channel. Touch channel preference was influenced by need for touch and multi‐channel choice such that participants who had higher need for touch and used more than one channel for clothing shopping preferred local and non‐local stores. Non‐touch channel preference was influenced by fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership and multi‐channel choice. Regardless of gender, those high in fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership who used more than one channel preferred TV retailers, catalogs, and online stores.

Results cannot be generalized to the larger population of other consumer groups. Future research should include other population groups.

This study is the first to investigate the effects of consumers' gender, fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership, and need for touch on their multi‐channel choice and touch/non‐touch shopping channel preference in clothing shopping.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a greater understanding of why and how different ages use shopping channels, analysing preferences and motivations for use.

Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 50 female participants, aged 20-70. All were customers of a fashion retailer that has ecommerce and mcommerce platforms, stores and catalogues, in order to gain a better understanding of loyal consumers’ multi-channel behaviour.

Multi-channel shopping behaviour increased with age; the 20s did not engage in multi-channel shopping behaviour but viewed each channel as a separate entity. Mcommerce is the preferred shopping channel for the 20s, but its popularity and motivations to use decreases with age. Ecommerce is the most popular shopping channel due to convenience, selection, adventure/exploration and idea shopping. The physical store was the preferred channel for the 60+, who shopped there for convenience and enjoyment. Catalogues were seen as out-dated and no longer considered a transactional channel.

There are no previous studies that have investigated channel preferences and motivations across a 50-year age span using loyal customers. The majority of previous studies looking at multi-channel shopping behaviour are quantitative and so this qualitative enquiry provides a richer insight into reasons for consumer preferences and motivations. The study contributes novel findings to the literature as it shows that multi-channel shopping behaviour increases with age, and younger consumers (20s) are not partaking in it at all.

The purpose of this paper is to complement existing work on multi‐channel environments of shopping experiences and retail channels by exploring the use of different channels in the consumer decision‐making processes associated with ticket purchase for performances in a regional annual theatre festival.

Analysis of the audience questionnaire focuses on the relative use of different channels and specifically the importance of the Internet in the stages leading up to attendance at the festival – awareness, information gathering, decision making and purchase transaction.

The extent of use of different channels at different stages in the decision‐making process varies, although the Internet is the only channel that can be and is used to support all stages of the process. Throughout the process, with the exception of purchase transaction, the use of word‐of‐mouth is significant. Customers who started using the Internet at the awareness stage often continued to use it. Neither gender nor age has a significant effect on patterns of channel use.

This study contributes to research into the use of multiple channels in consumer decision making, particularly in relation to customer multi‐channel employment, the factors that affect channel use, and the role of word‐of mouth in multi‐channel contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a conceptual model to predict the determinants of online channel use in a multi‐channel environment.

A case study of a free, multi‐channel entertainment magazine is used to statistically analyse a proposed model of customers' channel use (n=224) using an online survey of real consumers.

The findings in the paper confirm a number of determinants of consumer attitudes. Subjective norms and consumer attitudes positively affect behavioural intention to use and intentions directly relate to actual use. The results also indicate that three constructs (i.e. enjoyment, marketing efforts and age), one from each three main determinant groups (i.e. marketing variables, individual difference variables and channel attributes), are likely to be an accurate predictor of consumer attitudes.

The paper shows that enjoyment was an important factor among the younger, socially aware and somewhat hedonistically‐oriented consumers of the magazine. Firms should track consumer preferences from registration and then should try to create activities that give consumers enjoyment. Linking together of marketing efforts is very important. Advertising can be a great opportunity to grow online operations. Search engines and the use of incentives (prizes) can be useful in this regard. Firms should also advertise their web site through the offline channel or any places that can reach target consumers. A good mix of offline and online advertising can present a message and reinforce it for consumers in different channels.

This paper contributes towards understanding consumer behaviour in the online channel use context in a multi‐channel environment.

When a company simultaneously manages several distribution channels, there are important issues regarding the sharing of marketing and logistical resources. This paper aims to discuss the integration of sales staff, communication and logistical operations to improve service delivery to multi-channel consumers.

The paper is based on a literature review regarding multi-channel strategy to build a conceptual framework. This framework is discussed using three illustrations from the French multi-channel distribution field (King Jouet, Fnac and Darty).

The exploratory research underlines the importance of information about how consumers order in different channels. This makes the global management of different channels difficult and threatens marketing and logistical sharing.

The integration process is becoming increasingly important in service recovery. Companies must therefore facilitate total access to logistical information. This requires an organisational interaction between marketing and the supply chain activities.

The paper underlines the importance of the integration process in service recovery management, particularly when a defective product must be replaced and a new product be made available to consumers.

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.

Recent statistics on increasing webrooming customers make it topical in the multi-channel retailing domain. The purpose of this paper is to offer an enhanced understanding on “Webrooming behaviour”, an area of concern for e-retailers by proposing an integrated framework grounded on the Theory of planned behaviour and Technology acceptance model.

The conceptual model presented develops a number of propositions applicable to webrooming behaviour utilizing the rich literature on channel choice behaviour in the multi-channel retailing environment. The propositions are open for verification and can serve the basis for future line of research.

The model proposed provides basis for understanding the webrooming sequence via search attitude towards online channels, purchase attitude towards offline channels, perceived ease of online search and perceived usefulness of webrooming behaviour. The impact of online risk perceptions and mediating role of (lack of) “trust” have been proposed along with the direct impact of product type and category which offers an holistic view towards understanding the webrooming conduct.

The model proposed lacks empirical verification. There is a need to test the model empirically to validate the model and to find out the suitability of integrated TPB-TAM model.

Webrooming substantially erodes online profits. Before retailers’ strategies to defend webroomers, it is imperative to understand the phenomenon from the consumer’s side. The model proposed is a step in this direction and provides the basis for formulating strategies for holding back the webroomers.

This paper adds to the body of knowledge in retailing by proposing a conceptual model on webrooming behaviour which is an emerging area of research in the present retail landscape.