Challenging the "integration imperative": A customer perspective on omnichannel journeys

Omnichannel literature largely assumes that retailers should integrate touchpoints across channels to promote seamless experiences. This paper challenges this assumption by exploring how perceived journey integration affects customer experience in omnichannel retailing. A qualitative study reveals that two dimensions of journey integration—consistency and connectivity—interact to form four patterns of omnichannel journeys, each prompting distinct experiences. When looking at this phenomenon through the customer’s perspective, we find that there are cases in which low consistency or connectivity can trigger positive experiences, contradicting extant literature. We then formulate research propositions that challenge the “integration imperative” in the omnichannel literature and provide managerial implications for retail firms that want to improve their customers’ experiences.     

How to retain customers in omnichannel retailing: Considering the roles of brand experience and purchase behavior

The opportunities and challenges of omnichannel in retail industry have been widely discussed, yet despite these benefits, the key elements that constitute an effective omnichannel and how customers respond to omnichannel retailing strategies remain unclear. This research conducted online surveys to test the effects of omnichannel elements on various brand experiences and customer retention, considering the moderating role of purchase behavior. The results indicate that omnichannel elements (integration, individualization, and interaction) are generally helpful in retaining customers, through omnichannel elements influence brand experiences differently. In addition, these omnichannel elements have different influences on customer retention due to different purchase behaviors. The findings suggest that retailers can use different omnichannel strategies to attract customers’ purchases and provide insights for practitioners who want to use omnichannel strategies to deliver superior experiences for customers.     

Information effects of warehouse automation on sales in omnichannel retailing

The recent development of an omnichannel business environment provides a seamless shopping experience throughout the customer journey. Although previous studies have identified the importance of rapid product delivery, consumers cannot evaluate delivery quality until it has arrived. This study argued that warehouse automation and retail channel brand characteristics lead to informative signals and to firms' higher sales in the omnichannel context. By analyzing panel data from the Japanese retail market, we tested the effects of warehouse automation and the moderating effects of omnichannel, online, and offline brand offerings on the effectiveness of the warehouse automation signal. Results showed that warehouse automation signaling positively affects firms’ sales and has a positive interaction effect with omnichannel offerings.     

Seamless experience in the context of omnichannel shopping： scale development and empirical validation

In recent years, delivering a superior seamless experience (SE) for customers has become one of the most crucial aspects of omnichannel marketing for omnichannel retailers. However, research lacks a common understanding of what the SE is and how customers evaluate the SE throughout their omnichannel shopping journeys, and the effects of the SE on important customer behaviors remain unexplored. Drawing on omnichannel customer experience research, following the scale development process, this research conceptualize and develop a scale to measure the SE construct. Building on the customer experience quality framework, this research further examines the effects of customers’ prior SE on repurchase intention, word of mouth (WOM), and customer influence behavior in the omnichannel shopping context. The SE scale is developed and validated by performing 15 semi-structured interviews, 62 open-ended questionnaires, and three online surveys with 884 useable respondents in total. The effects of SE are then validated via partial least squares modeling with 307 useable respondents. The findings confirm that the SE construct is a formative second-order construct composed of six reflective first-order dimensions. Our empirical findings indicate that the overall SE has a direct and significant impact on the foregoing three customer behaviors. Managers can use the SE scale as an effective omnichannel approach to design a seamless shopping journey and maintain long-term relationships with customers.     

Female customers' expectation of the service offering and their perception of the service quality in an emerging clothing market

Worldwide, clothing retailers that offer similar merchandise and even the same brands are flanked almost next to one another in shopping centres. Clothing retail therefore appears to be poorly differentiated, and it is not always clear why consumers prefer to patronize one store and avoid another. This study explored female consumers' expectations of the service offering and their perception of the service quality of prominent clothing retail channels in Tshwane, a major urban area in South Africa. The survey involved 243 females that were 20 years of age or older. They completed a structured questionnaire that investigated their (1) expectations of customer service in terms of tangible evidence of the service offering; and (2) perception of service quality using two different instruments by means of a direct measurement approach. Explorative factor analysis was used to reduce the data in terms of relevant dimensions of the respective measuring instruments and to determine the significance of the various dimensions of customer service and service quality in the context of this research. Contrary to what the literature proposes about consumers in an emerging economy, findings of this study suggest that females' expectations of the service offering of clothing retail stores were high. Their expectations were cognitively structured in terms of three elements of customer service, namely (1) physical facilities and product presentation; (2) personnel; and (3) store image and processes. Their perception of service quality revealed an opportunity to augment the service quality through attention to activities that are associated with personnel and the so-called supportiveness dimensions of their service offering. Findings coincided with a prior investigation of Terblanche and Boshoff, although a re-labelling of one dimension of their instrument is proposed to prevent confusion. Recommendations to augment the service quality of clothing retailers are made in terms of tangible evidence of the service offering.     

A reassessment of the dimensionality of retail performance: a multivariate generalizability theory perspective

With the focus on performance assessment, a considerable amount of academic work has been devoted to customer assessment of retail stores. A disproportionate share of attention has been devoted to the reproducibility of SERVQUAL dimensions in studies of the variability across customers. More recently attention has shifted to a broader perspective on customer assessment of retail service performance, with Rust and Oliver (in: Rust and Oliver (Eds.), Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1994, pp. 1–19) providing a framework where the three distinct elements are the service product, the service environment, and the service delivery process. However, variability across other sources of performance variation, such as retail stores, has rarely been considered when studying the dimensionality of retail performance. In this paper, we use multivariate generalizability theory to assess the dimensionality of measures of retail store performance data both across stores and across shoppers.     

Service value revisited: Specifying a higher-order, formative measure

Recent marketing literature pays particular attention to customer value because of the potential impact on customer behavior and, ultimately, firm performance. Whereas some studies conceptualize customer value in a unidimensional manner, more recent approaches take a multidimensional approach, generally conceptualizing value as composed of various benefits and sacrifices. However, nearly all of these studies consider value components in a reflective manner, which is not only problematic but in many cases conceptually incorrect. In addition, recent customer value research includes service components to define and operationalize the construct. This study suggests that customer value in service contexts, or service value, represents a higher-order, formative construct with benefit and sacrifice components. Specifically, the authors propose a formative model of service value with four components: service quality, service equity, confidence benefits, and perceived sacrifice. A multiple-industry study substantiates the contention that this higher-order, formative approach best models value. The results theoretically and empirically support the conceptualization of service value with formative components, and the measure is robust and works well across multiple service contexts.     

Convenience stores in the digital age: A focus on the customer experience and revisit intentions

The digital age has posed challenges to the convenience store (c-store) industry regarding the types of technology investment required to compete in the digital world, and the c-store industry has experienced years of customer count declines. This research empirically examines what store stimuli are important to c-store consumers and how these factors affect the customer experience, satisfaction, and revisit intentions. The data were collected from 502 c-store consumers, and the covariance-based structural equation modeling technique was used to test the hypothesized associations. We found that hedonic customer experience mediates the association between store image, price, service quality, omnichannel, and customer satisfaction. Utilitarian customer experience mediates the association between store image, product assortment, price, and customer satisfaction. In addition, customer satisfaction has a positive effect on the revisit intentions. The findings of the research contribute to the theory building of customer experience of convenience stores. This research reveals that emphasizing hedonic experiences could be the answer to reversing the declining consumer trips in the convenience store industry. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Service-Dominant Orientation: Measurement and Impact on Performance Outcomes

A firm's ability to offer better service and to co-create valuable customer experiences is critically important to achieving competitive advantage. Service-dominant (S-D) logic, along with resource and capability perspectives, provides the underlying theoretical reasoning for the relevance of such capabilities. However, despite researchers’ recent contributions to marketing theory, empirical support for S-D logic and its implications is very limited at the strategic level. An open question, therefore, is what empirically constitutes a value co-creation capability, and what is its impact on important performance outcomes. Building on the conceptualization of an S-D orientation as a portfolio of value co-creation capabilities, this research first operationalizes and validates an S-D orientation measure through a multi-study approach across different contexts. The authors then apply the measurement instrument to an automotive retail setting to investigate the outcomes of S-D orientation in terms of both customer- and firm-related performance metrics. Results provide the first empirical demonstration of the importance of S-D capabilities, and thus S-D logic, for firms.     

Retail corporate groups: Challenges of omnichannel management in Japan

Abstract

The omnichannel varies across countries due to different retail environments and retailers’ growth strategies. The Japanese big retailers’ omnichannel can be characterized by having multiple retail formats, such as department stores, general merchandise stores, convenience stores, specialty stores, Internet stores, and so on. They have grown by multiplying retail formats to appeal to different customer segments, and they have unique challenges in managing an omnichannel with many retail formats. These are (1) extremely wide variety of merchandise, (2) enormous quantity of data from transaction, inventory, logistics, and customers, (3) different organization structures and management, and (4) unique organizational capabilities in each retail format. From these challenges, we could propose further research issues as follows: (1) theoretical consideration of boundary-spanning functions among retail formats, (2) international comparative analysis reflecting the different conditions in each country, and (3) clarifying the characteristics of the omnichannel shopper in the Japanese omnichannel environment.     

Service integration in omnichannel retailing and its impact on customer experience

Although omnichannel retailing has received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners in recent years, its impacts on customer experience and relationship outcomes remain unclear. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects of two components of service integration in omnichannel retailing, namely service consistency and service transparency, on customer experience (i.e. flow and perceived privacy risk), and customer loyalty. Flow theory and hyperbolic discounting theory are employed to underpin these relationships. The data was collected using an online survey with 786 useable responses. Our findings indicate that service consistency has a direct and significant impact on flow and perceived risk while only the effect of service transparency on flow is significant. Moreover, both flow and perceived risk are related to customer loyalty to a retailer. Furthermore, it is found that showrooming behaviour and location-based service usage moderate the relationship between service consistency and privacy risk. The findings of the research provide important implications for a retailer regarding the development, implementation and management of omnichannel strategy.     

The effect of product category on customer motivation for customer engagement behaviour

Recently, research on customer engagement behaviour (CEB) has rapidly developed. However, comparative studies on the motivational drivers of CEB across different product contexts are lacking. This study aims to understand the nature of customer motivation (CM) and investigate how its elements and impact on CEB differ between product settings (tangible vs. intangible and high involvement vs. low involvement). Based on surveys of 2080 consumers, this study validates CM for CEB as a construct comprising hedonic, normative, and gain dimensions. The findings highlight significant differences in the importance of hedonic and normative dimensions as affected by the product category. The findings of this study can help marketing and brand managers understand how they can improve their engagement strategies by stimulating motivation-based CEB.     

Personalization and hedonic motivation in creating customer experiences and loyalty in omnichannel retail

This study examines the effects of personalization and hedonic motivation on customer experience and its loyalty outcomes in omnichannel retail context. The study develops eight hypotheses which are tested using two survey samples (Finland (n = 2084) and Sweden (n = 2334). In addition, empirical analysis includes 20 semi-structured interviews. The findings support all the hypotheses confirming the positive relationships personalization and hedonic motivation have on cognitive and emotional customer experience components. Further, the positive effects of customer experience on loyalty are confirmed. The results provide both theoretical and managerial insights for improved CX and customer loyalty.     

The omnichannel continuum: Integrating online and offline channels along the customer journey

This paper provides a framework for conceptualizing omnichannel integration as a continuum, identifies phenomena that determine how firms should position along that continuum, and summarizes empirical research regarding these phenomena. The framework combines the customer journey (search to purchase to aftersales) and channel choice (online vs. offline). This generates a range of omnichannel strategies, anchored by “Unconnected” on one extreme and “Complete” on the other. In between, “Vertical” strategies integrate channels over the customer journey, while “Horizontal” strategies integrate across channels at a given stage in the customer journey. We draw on more than 200 articles to identify 10 consumer and marketing phenomena (“determinants”) that influence where a firm should position along the continuum. This however raises challenges. For example, empirical research surprisingly finds many customers belong to an offline-focused segment. This suggests a Vertical strategy linking offline channels. However, today's turbulent retail environment questions whether the offline-focused segment will endure. Should the retailer cater to offline-focused customers or facilitate their progression to “multichannelism”? Another finding is that consumers strongly prefer consistency across channels. This suggests a Horizontal strategy. However, consistency might create channel cannibalization. How can the retailer avoid this? We discuss these and several other findings regarding the impact of the 10 determinants on omnichannel continuum strategy. We identify issues researchers need to research and managers need to consider when developing omnichannel continuum strategy.     

Customer experience in the B2B area: The impact of age-related impressions

Services are dyadic experiences and many of these experiences require personal relationships for service provision. The co-acting parties' early impressions shape their unique expectations regarding, for example, appearance, behavior, and age. In a business-to-business (B2B) context, for example, younger employees might create a favorable impression in design-related tasks, while older employees might create a favorable impression in engineering tasks. The business partner subsequently contemplates the impression made by the individual's age (hereafter referred to as age impression) and ascribes certain competences to the individual.This paper emphasizes the role of the others' age impressions in a working context. More specifically, a qualitative study's results highlight the impact of age impressions on service expectations and perceptions. The results identify several dimensions of age impressions that allow for adapting service personnel to a B2B context. This paper fills a void in the age-related marketing literature because it focuses on the others' age impression rather than the individual's perception. The paper also contributes to recent customer experience (CX) literature, as it emphasizes the context factors' role in the service encounter. Furthermore, this paper is one of the rare CX studies in a B2B context and enriches research in the CX's adaptability in such contexts.     

Store of the future: Towards a (re)invention and (re)imagination of physical store space in an omnichannel context

This paper explores the future of the physical store within omnichannel retail and specifically, the prerequisites of the designed retail environment in optimizing customer experience. Adopting an exploratory qualitative approach, primary data was obtained using semi-structured interviews with 20 industry experts.The research makes a valuable contribution to the dearth of extent literature on experiential store spaces of the future, specifically within the fashion field. By connecting three topics of academic research - Omnichannel retail, the role of the physical store and in-store customer experience - it serves to suggest the prerequisites for designed retail environments in optimizing customer experience.     

Minding the competition: The drivers for multichannel service quality in fashion retailing

PurposeConsumer 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 behaviours, multichannel fashion retailing companies must continue to learn how to provide excellent service to such customers. Drawing on expectation confirmation theory, this paper investigates drivers for service quality from the perspective of multichannel fashion customers.Design/methodology: This paper approaches the topic of multichannel service quality by adopting a social constructionist research paradigm, utilising an abductive approach and an embedded case study research strategy. It aims to explore the lived experiences and perspectives of individuals in the context of an evolving complex and multidimensional phenomenon. The paper seeks information-rich cases and therefore views service quality through the eyes of experienced German multichannel customers. A customer perspective helps to explain the phenomenon of multichannel service quality and helps to disclose the meaning that these customers give to it. The sample size for this research consisted of 18 in-depth interviews and two focus groups including ten focus group participants. As such, a process of methodological triangulation was followed.FindingsIntegration quality is identified as the essence of competitive advantage for multichannel retailers. The paper conceptualises integration quality as a catalyst, which plays a supporting role in reinforcing the reactions of the physical and electronic service quality in order to provide an optimised service quality experience.Originality/valueThis paper looks at retailer/customer interactions in the context of purchases of a fashion product at a retailer using different retail channels. It highlights the distinctive requirements of multiple-channel systems within which the focus should not only be to enhance and improve physical and/or electronic service quality, but must also be about the integration of the service offers of each channel. The paper contributes to the interpretation of multichannel service quality with a new concept that explains the phenomenon from the perspective of customers.     

Change in technology-enabled omnichannel customer experiences in-store

This paper explores changes in technology-enabled omnichannel customer experiences in stores over a five-year period (2014–2019). It contributes to the omnichannel-experience-management literature through customer technology-enabled touchpoints within fashion retail. Adopting an exploratory qualitative approach, primary data were obtained using semi-structured interviews with millennial consumers. The findings demonstrate the growing importance of implementing and integrating in-store technologies to improve customer experience. From these, two models are developed: “technology-induced customer experience in-store”; and “technology-enabled customer shopping journey in-store”.     

The impact of buy-online-and-return-in-store channel integration on online and offline behavioral intentions: The role of offline store

Retailers have treated the buy-online-and-return-in-store (BORS) policy as an important initiative to reduce return losses and provide a better customer experience. Studies on BORS policy have primarily focused on the retailer's strategic value, but not on how such a seamlessly integrated omnichannel operation affects customer behavior. Using Chinese customer data and the structural equation model (SEM), we investigate how BORS channel integration impacts customer behavioral intentions, with the consideration of the mediating effect of customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of offline store characteristics. Based on the stimulus-organism-response framework, our research found that two dimensions of BORS channel integration (integrated return fulfillment and integrated customer service) positively impact customer satisfaction and subsequently impact behavioral intentions in different channels. Furthermore, offline store convenience moderates the relationship between integrated customer service and customer satisfaction. Product variety in the offline store moderates the relationship between customer satisfaction and offline behavioral intentions, while it is not statistically significant in the relationship between customer satisfaction and online behavioral intentions. Compared to the younger group, the older group who is satisfied with BORS service is more likely to purchase offline. These findings generate important theoretical and practical implications for omnichannel return operations.     

Quantifying the influence of customer experience on consumer share-of-category

Customer experience is an all-encompassing construct, and most companies go to considerable lengths to create memorable, extraordinary experiences. Nevertheless, customers experience offerings, companies, and their brands very differently. Using one qualitative and three quantitative studies we explore customers’ experiences from a financial perspective by measuring and quantifying the linkages between these and customers’ share-of-category. When measured by means of customers’ share-of-category, customers demonstrate significantly different purchasing intentions and behavior. In addition, customer retail service experiences that influence the share-of-category differ significantly between customers with a low and a high share-of-category. We expand our knowledge of customer experience by highlighting that different customer groups may perceive a similar retail experience differently, leading to a different purchasing behavior and influencing their respective share-of-category. This study expands existing research by providing empirical evidence of the link between the customer experience and customers’ purchasing behavior.