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1 – 10 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 3 October 2016

Jin-Feng Wu and Ya Ping Chang

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of multichannel integration quality in enhancing online perceived value and online purchase intention via the online store…

7529

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of multichannel integration quality in enhancing online perceived value and online purchase intention via the online store operated by a land-based retailer.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper develops a research model based on the “quality-value-purchase” chain, with four dimensions of multichannel integration quality as antecedents and three dimensions of online perceived value as mediators of online purchase intention. Empirical data were collected from 390 multichannel shoppers and structured equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses.

Findings

Among the four multichannel integration quality dimensions, transparency of service configuration, process consistency and business ties positively affect online purchase intention through online perceived value, whereas the effects of information consistency are not significant; process consistency exerts a stronger influence on online perceived value than business ties; the effect of online convenience on online purchase intention is weaker than that of online monetary savings and online hedonic value.

Research limitations/implications

The study identifies the theoretical principles of the relationships among multichannel integration quality, online perceived value and online perceived value in multichannel context. Based on these theoretical principles, this study will help researchers to better understand consumers’ online purchase intention and the creation of online perceived value in the integrated multichannel context.

Practical implications

The findings of this study can provide retailers with useful strategies to increase online purchase intention depending on improvement of multichannel integration quality and online perceived value.

Originality/value

This study provides a first study to empirically assess various types of online perceived value attached to multidimensional properties of multichannel integration quality and the corresponding effects on online purchase intention. Overall, the results offer insights of how land-based retailers could manage their online performance by integrating multiple channels and improving online perceived value.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2021

Diana Kolbe, Haydeé Calderón and Marta Frasquet

Using online channels is an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing industry to reach new markets and reduce the dependency on distributors…

Abstract

Purpose

Using online channels is an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing industry to reach new markets and reduce the dependency on distributors. The challenge remains that of integrating new online channels into existing networks effectively. This paper aims to identify to what extent multichannel integration is enhanced by the innovation capability of manufacturing SMEs and the subsequent influence on their performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected by means of a survey aimed at managers of small manufacturing firms in Mexico and were analysed through an advanced partial least squares (PLS) approach via SmartPLS.

Findings

Manufacturing SMEs with more advanced innovation capability achieve higher levels of multichannel integration. In turn, when multichannel integration is more advanced, manufacturing SMEs enjoy better results with respect to sales, fulfilling marketing objectives and improving relationships with customers.

Research limitations/implications

The model could be extended to accommodate other variables that may affect the effective integration of multiple channels.

Practical implications

Manufacturing SMEs can improve their results by integrating online channels with existing offline channels with a commitment to innovating in the market.

Originality/value

Analysing multichannel integration from the perspective of manufacturing firms, examining not only the positive consequences but also the underlying capabilities needed.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 January 2020

Elena Patten, Wilson Ozuem and Kerry Howell

Consumer purchasing behaviour has changed substantially in the light of recent developments in E-commerce. So-called “multichannel customers” tend to switch retail channels during…

1788

Abstract

Purpose

Consumer purchasing behaviour has changed substantially in the light of recent developments in E-commerce. So-called “multichannel customers” tend to switch retail channels during the purchasing process. In order to address changing consumer behaviour, multichannel fashion retailing companies must continue to learn how to provide excellent service to such customers. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the interpretation of multichannel service quality by explaining it from the perspective of the so-called “multichannel customers”.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on social influence theory, this paper aims to investigate these issues from the perspective of multichannel customers. In contrast with dualist and objectivist studies, this paper uses a constructivist epistemology and ethnographic methodology. Such an approach is associated with an interpretivist ontological worldview, which postulates the existence of “multiple realities”. The sample size for this research consisted of 34 in-depth interviews and 2 focus groups comprising 10 focus group participants.

Findings

The data analysis fundamentally found that multichannel customers tended to continually adjust choices regarding retailer and retail ckhannel when making purchases. The perspective of this paper is different from mainstream positivist service quality research which sees service quality as static, objectively measurable and dualistic. As an alternative, this paper acknowledges service quality as a dynamic, subjective and pluralistic phenomenon.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the interpretation of multichannel service quality with a new concept that explains the phenomenon from the perspective of customers and thus considers it necessary for multichannel retailers to adopt strategies relating to customers’ changing behaviour.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 33 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2019

Ja-Shen Chen, Hung-Tai Tsou, Cindy Yunhsin Chou and Ciou-Hua Ciou

Drawing on the extant multichannel service quality literature and customer needs regarding the experiential value of online and offline shopping, the purpose of this paper is to…

2195

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the extant multichannel service quality literature and customer needs regarding the experiential value of online and offline shopping, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among multichannel service delivery quality (MSDQ), customer experiences, continued engagement intentions and customer involvement.

Design/methodology/approach

A research model with five hypotheses was proposed. Data were collected from 911 Taiwanese consumers who had a minimum of two years of multichannel shopping experience. The consumers were asked to complete a survey about their experience with MSDQ. Structural equation modelling was adopted to analyse the data.

Findings

The results of the analysis suggest that MSDQ positively impacts customer experiences, which in turn influence their continued engagement intentions. Furthermore, the analysis found that customer involvement positively moderates the effects of MSDQ on customer experiences.

Research limitations/implications

This study adopts the customer experience view to examine the effect of a holistic MSDQ design (including information transparency and accessibility and channel integration) on continued engagement intentions. By integrating a different conceptual lens, this study investigates the relationships among multichannel service quality, customer experiences and customer involvement, which adds alternative insights to the existing findings.

Practical implications

Managers must provide approaches to enhance the customer experiential values of utilitarianism, aesthetic appeal and playfulness; facilitate the information flow to be transparent and easily accessible; and provide different degrees of service based on customers’ experiences with their multichannel services to satisfy all consumers’ shopping needs.

Originality/value

The literature has focussed primarily on service providers’ technology capabilities and resources to design multichannel delivery systems. However, this study develops an MSDQ model and investigates its effects on customers’ experiences and continued engagement intentions.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2021

Christophe Bèzes

This research studies what full channel integration means for customers, how channels should be combined so that this integration is perceived by customers and whether a retailer…

Abstract

Purpose

This research studies what full channel integration means for customers, how channels should be combined so that this integration is perceived by customers and whether a retailer under study can act on the same channel attributes regardless of the type of customer.

Design/methodology/approach

The research design uses an online survey of a full sample of 1,015 multichannel buyers, extracted from the behavioral databases of a French specialized retailer. This full sample is segmented into four sub-samples. The data are treated with backward multiple linear regressions.

Findings

Based on research in marketing and psychology, this study conceptually demonstrates that integrated interactions perceived by consumers are the outcome of a judgment of congruence that seek to build relationships between them in order to combine them better. Testing three hypotheses, the empirical study shows that channel integration is a psychological process: cumulative (individuals incorporate the information provided by the different channels rather than comparing them), selective (customers never take into account all the attributes of the channels) and subjective (the channel image attributes taken into account differ in number and quality from one type of customer to another).

Originality/value

Contrary to what the literature assumes, without ever demonstrating it, full integration does not imply that the retailer in question homogenizes or even matches up all the attributes of its channels. The retailer is thus able to act on attributes that promote this integration, while being relatively free to cultivate the incongruence of other attributes more likely to smoothly guide customers to a particular channel – in other words, a path midway between cross-channel and omnichannel.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 49 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2012

Yi‐Ching Hsieh, Jinshyang Roan, Anurag Pant, Jung‐Kuei Hsieh, Wen‐Ying Chen, Monle Lee and Hung‐Chang Chiu

The purpose of this paper is to explore how multichannel customers evaluate overall satisfaction across distribution channels and what the antecedents are of such satisfaction.

3623

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how multichannel customers evaluate overall satisfaction across distribution channels and what the antecedents are of such satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of bank customers in Taiwan was conducted. The total number of valid questionnaires was 479. Reliability and validity were tested. Maximum likelihood procedure of LISREL 8.8 was used to test the hypothesized structural equation model.

Findings

The findings indicate that the overall satisfaction in the multichannel environment is a critical determinant of customer retention and participation. The present study also develops the antecedents of multichannel satisfaction. In the multichannel environment, perceived multichannel service quality is positively related to satisfaction, while perceived channel switching difficulty is negatively related to satisfaction.

Originality/value

The present study employs the stimulus‐organism‐response (S‐O‐R) paradigm and the channel loyalty framework to better model customers' response to marketing activities in the multichannel distribution system.

Details

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-4529

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2022

Kedwadee Sombultawee and Thanchanok Tansakul

The purpose of this paper is to investigate cognitive and affective customer service in Thailand's maltichannel retail environment. The research used the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate cognitive and affective customer service in Thailand's maltichannel retail environment. The research used the stimulus–organism–response model of consumer behaviour. The study's theoretical framework incorporated the multichannel service quality framework (Sousa and Voss, 2006) and a decomposed measure of customer experience, including cognitive and affective customer experience (Gao et al., 2021). Outcomes investigated included repurchase intention and word-of-mouth intention.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative survey of Thai consumers (aged 18 and over) who had purchased from multichannel retailers at least one time in the past year (n = 502) was conducted. Data were collected online and analysed using a structural equation modelling approach.

Findings

Significant factors in cognitive customer experience and affective customer experience included breadth of channel choice, transparency of channel, content consistency and process consistency. Effects differed in strength on these effects. Cognitive customer experience and affective customer experience influenced repurchase intention and word-of-mouth intention, with a stronger effect from affective customer experience.

Originality/value

This research presents an integrative model for customer experience in multichannel marketing, incorporating a well-established model of multichannel service quality and a decomposed measure of customer experience. It also illustrates the difference between cognitive customer experience and affective customer experience, which have different effect sizes from antecedents and different effects on outcome variables. This finding is a significant theoretical advancement.

Article
Publication date: 11 March 2021

Maria Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, Miguel-Ángel Gómez-Borja and Alejandro Mollá-Descals

One key issue to be addressed in multichannel retailing strategies has to do with ensuring the consistency of the retailer offerings between the brick-and-mortar and the online…

Abstract

Purpose

One key issue to be addressed in multichannel retailing strategies has to do with ensuring the consistency of the retailer offerings between the brick-and-mortar and the online stores to offer their customers a seamless experience. This study assesses whether perceived congruence may be relevant to identify segments of heterogeneous based on their online loyalty levels as well as other constructs and variables related to the customer relationship with the retailer for two different product categories.

Design/methodology/approach

From the responses of apparel and electronics multichannel shoppers to an online survey, a CHAID algorithm was performed to identify the most relevant congruence attribute(s) perceived by customers for predicting their loyalty levels toward the online store.

Findings

The results have allowed the identification of five segments of online shoppers, both for apparel and for electronics retailing, so that customers showing the highest scores in all congruence attributes also showed a higher loyalty toward the online store.

Research limitations/implications

This study presents a first insight into the link between perceived congruence and online loyalty in retailing using a CHAID segmentation-based approach by differentiating various dimensions of perceived congruence for two product categories.

Practical implications

The results obtained allow for inferring a series of strategies and actions that retailers can adopt for improving perceived congruence between physical and online stores along with a series of dimensions, and ultimately, increase online loyalty.

Originality/value

As the interest of the literature on perceived congruence between offline and online stores is relatively recent, this exploratory research contributes to shedding light on the implications of specific congruence dimensions between the offline and the online store in terms of consumer online loyalty in all multicategory setting.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 49 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 June 2022

Sheng-Wei Lin, Eugenia Y. Huang and Kai-Teng Cheng

This study employed the commitment–trust theory in social psychology and relationship marketing to explore female customers' perception of channel integration quality in…

1404

Abstract

Purpose

This study employed the commitment–trust theory in social psychology and relationship marketing to explore female customers' perception of channel integration quality in omnichannel retailing and its influence on their relationship commitment to and trust in the relationship with retailers, and thus on their stickiness. Channel integration quality consists of two dimensions: channel service configuration (channel choice breadth and channel service transparency) and integrated interactions (content consistency, process consistency and perceived fluency).

Design/methodology/approach

The study was carried out via a questionnaire survey, to which 868 valid responses were collected. The partial least squares technique was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Channel service transparency and perceived fluency influence relationship commitment; content consistency, process consistency and perceived fluency all have significant effects on trust. Interestingly, although less influential than integrated interactions, channel service configuration is the foundation of channel integration quality, testifying to its significant role.

Originality/value

This study provides strong evidence on how channel integration quality affects customer stickiness. Moreover, this study replicates the finding of significant relationships among relationship commitment, trust and stickiness in omnichannel retailing.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 36 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 October 2021

Yingzhao He, Yan Yu and Meiyun Zuo

Drawing on open systems theory, this study aims to investigate the direct and moderating effects of information collaboration in the pre-sale stage, transaction management…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on open systems theory, this study aims to investigate the direct and moderating effects of information collaboration in the pre-sale stage, transaction management collaboration in the transaction stage and customer service collaboration in the post-sale stage on the linkages of the online–offline store image and the market performance of small sellers.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from multiple sources, including self-reported and online objective data from 148 small restaurants that simultaneously sell online and offline, for validating the developed research model. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling was used for data analysis.

Findings

This study illustrates the direct effects of an online store’s image and online–offline collaborations on the market performance of small stores. This study further reveals the boom-bust moderating effects of different collaborations between online–offline images and market performance.

Practical implications

Small stores should be aware of the importance of information congruence and functional integration concerning online–offline collaboration. They should also recognize the paradoxical intervening effects of online–offline collaboration on different channels and arrange appropriate collaboration tactics.

Originality/value

This study presents a significant contribution to the open systems theory by revealing both constructive and destructive properties of the online–offline collaborative system with offline-to-online targeting. Vertically differentiated online–offline collaboration may strengthen one side of the store image but weaken the other side for promoting the market performance of small stores.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 32 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000