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Consumers increasingly experience multi‐channel service and a significant challenge for the service organization is to ensure that the design of the multi‐channel interface contributes to the service experience and helps to build bonds with customers. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate four features (i.e. problem‐handling, record accuracy, usability, and scalability) used by customers to evaluate multi‐channel service and investigates their impact on customer relationship and loyalty intentions.

The study involves an online survey with customers selected randomly in two service industries. Empirical data are analyzed using structural equation models.

Customer evaluations of the multi‐channel service interface have a strong influence on customer trust in the organization but a negligible impact on customer commitment. Trust, however, has a positive effect on commitment, thus enhancing customer loyalty.

The measures developed in the study represent a summary account for considerations involving multi‐channel service. However, the ability to capture the hypothesized roles of the multi‐channel service interface suggests a robust foundation for future research. These consumer‐based measures provide managers with a blueprint allowing for the integrated analysis and design of customer touch points.

This paper provides key variables to advance the study of multi‐channel service. Ways are suggested in which firms can benefit from a view of their service channels as an interface system to inform effective service design strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to review state‐of‐art literature on adoption of CRM technology, including the CRM in multichannel environment and provide a comprehensive view of insights gained in this area of research through the bibliography.

All together, nine databases were searched on the basis of four main descriptors which provided identification of 812 articles. A close review of the abstracts of these articles led to selection of 123 articles which were found relevant. Each of these articles was further reviewed and classified based on the main channel of CRM implementation. The articles were further classified in sub‐categories under each main channel theme.

The selected articles were categorized under four main themes based on the channel – CRM, multichannel CRM, eCRM, mCRM. The articles in the CRM category were mainly focused on the strategic alignment along with research on increasing customer loyalty and use of data mining in CRM. Under the multichannel CRM theme the articles were further classified under eight categories – CRM (articles focusing on overall CRM implementation on multiple channels and related issues), eCRM (articles related to CRM implementation on online channel and its impact in multichannel environment), IT, Marketing, Sales, Service, Strategy, and Mixed (articles addressing two issues simultaneously: Marketing and IT).

The bibliography provides a comprehensive academic literature published between 2006 and 2010 covering all the channels of CRM implementation – traditional, electronic and mobile – along with studies specifically focused on issues dealing with multichannel environment.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This paper deals with the uncertainty in digital measurement systems designed for power quality applications. The main goal of this work is to evaluate such uncertainty by means of a Monte Carlo method recently proposed in the literature. The accuracy of the measurement result obtained with a DSP‐based instrument for power quality metering depends on the behavior of the devices located in both the conditioning block and A/D conversion stage: it is thus necessary to consider the uncertainties introduced by each component of the system and the propagation of their effects through the measurement chain. Here, the uncertainty is estimated starting from the technical specifications provided by the manufacturers of these devices. Experimental results are reported to show the importance of some concerns about the practical implementation of the proposed methodology in a real instrument.

This paper presents a new multi‐channel temperature measurement system (MCTMS) with small size, light weight and low power consumption for the microgravity fluid experiment of drop Marangoni migration on SZ‐4 spaceship, a test module of the manned space mission of China.

The MCTMS, with a commercial‐off‐the‐shelf (COTS) component monolithic thermocouple amplifier with cold junction compensation AD595, is designed to measure temperature gradient field of up to 6 type T thermocouples Cu‐Constantan for microgravity fluid experiment. Through an analog multiplexer, the very small signal amplitude of the six‐channel temperatures can be acquired and amplified by the same monolithic thermocouple amplifier to retain the consistency of the six channels. A fully mission analysis and evaluation on the COTS component was taken into account before it was used in the thermal and radiation environment of space.

Using the COTS component in space can increase the system performance and considerably reduce the size, weight, power consumption and the overall complexity of the system. The measurement resolution of the MCTMS reaches 0.1°C because of the utilization of the COTS with high performance. In addition, the transfer function of the AD595 was deduced for type T thermocouples.

This paper suggests an easy way of measuring temperature for microgravity fluid experiment on spacecraft. Using a COTS component on spacecraft, also, is a new practical case study, which is more suitable for on‐board implementation. The MCTMS, presented in this work, has run in‐orbit successfully on SZ‐4 spaceship and the experiment result in space is reported.

CHELL Instruments have now introduced a vacuum gauge calibration system which covers the ranges from 10−5mb to 1300mb and which provides long term repeatabilities of better than 0.02%.

This paper aims to develop an omni-channel framework in the context of sales and sales management related to six areas: sales contexts, impact of technology, stages in the sales process, impact on relationships, impact on firm performance and the role of various communication tools and platforms. The paper also offers future reach needs in each of these areas.

Literature review and research needs development.

Research in omni-channel marketing in the context of sales and sales management is virtually silent. The authors identify key research gaps and offer recommended future research opportunities.

To date, little research in sales and sales management has studied multi-channel marketing. The omni-channel research framework reported here is unique and will help guide research in this area.

The purpose of this study is to investigate consumer characteristics (gender, subjective knowledge of product category, susceptibility to social influence, attitude to internet shopping and internet use) having a bearing on the proportion of online information searches conducted using personal and impersonal information sources, and to explore which of these factors impact the use of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM).

A real-time longitudinal design is used to survey 274 consumers about their information searches when shopping for high involvement goods.

Susceptibility to normative social influence and internet use prove the main drivers of the inclination to resort to the internet to conduct searches using personal information sources. Subjective knowledge also positively impacts the proportion of time spent online conducting searches using personal information sources. Men and consumers with a positive attitude to internet shopping use a greater proportion of impersonal online information sources. Complementary analyses show that the use of eWOM is driven by almost all consumer characteristics (except gender) investigated.

By using a real-time longitudinal approach, this study directly addresses calls for more research into information searches by investigating multi-channel source use in actual purchase situations and minimizing bias relating to forgotten information, while facilitating the collection of more valid data on consumer information search behaviour. The paper also ranks as one of the first to revisit the drivers of the proportion of online information sources in personal and impersonal sources in the era of Web 2.0.

In this invited paper, the authors aim to offer an integrated marketing communications (IMC) framework for understanding how disparate customer touchpoints impact consumer engagement and profitability in an omni-channel environment. For each aspect of the framework, the authors recommend areas for further research.

The authors review literature linking personal and electronic channels of communication in an omni-channel context to consumer engagement, with an emphasis on channel and message unity.

Five major research areas were identified: research that better links omni-channel and IMC theory and practice; conceptual and empirical research that helps operationalize the consumer-brand engagement construct, including its antecedents and consequences; Build understanding of off- and on-line consumer-brand touchpoints and how they may enhance engagement and profitability; how omni-channel IMC best monetizes buyer–seller relationships; and omni-channel IMC in other consumer decision contexts.

The emergence of omni-channel marketing is breaking down the silos across available consumer-brand touchpoints. The intersection of effective omni-channel marketing and IMC strategic and tactical initiatives offers marketers an opportunity to engage their customers and to form profitable relationships.

The authors proposed an omni-channel IMC Framework and a research agenda for advancing the field. As this is a new area of inquiry, the authors argue for the development of other comprehensive frameworks, both for general omni-channel IMC conceptualizations.