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1 – 10 of over 1000The 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…
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.
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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.
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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…
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.
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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…
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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.
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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.
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