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.     

Perceived Omnichannel Customer Experience (OCX): Concept,measurement, and impact

Efforts to measure customer experiences (CX) in multifaceted, omnichannel, retail contexts are crucial but lacking research guidance. Prior service quality literature has established methods for measuring CX in traditional, single-channel contexts but not adapted such measures to omnichannel contexts. With a mixed method research design and studies in eight phases, the authors propose a comprehensive measurement instrument that incorporates a schema- and categorization-based theoretical conceptualization of how customers assess omnichannel retail experiences; they also integrate means–end chain theory to explain perceived omnichannel customer experience (OCX) as a construct. This construct captures multiple omnichannel evaluation dimensions: social communications, value, personalization, customer service, consistency of both product availability and prices across channels, information safety, delivery, product returns, and loyalty programs. Multiple applications of the measurement model empirically confirm the suitability of this instrument in consumer goods omnichannel retail settings. Its 36 items reflect nine first-order quality dimensions that combine to form the overall, second-order OCX construct. The measurement instrument offers sound psychometric properties, as confirmed by several reliability and validity tests, and predicts customer behavior reliably across studies. Thus, the OCX measurement instrument offers utility for theory, management practice, and further research.     

Forging meaningful consumer-brand relationships through creative merchandise offerings and innovative merchandising strategies

This research highlights the importance of retailer-consumer identity congruence – the match between the retail brand identity and the consumers’ identity. Retailers can leverage identity congruence to forge meaningful consumer-brand relationships which will result in enhanced engagement, brand loyalty, and willingness to pay. The paper discusses how creative merchandise offerings and innovative merchandising strategies contribute to the creation of a unique retail brand identity and facilitate communication of this identity to consumers. Based on interviews with retail practitioners, we formulate five ways in which retailers can establish and communicate their brand identity through creative merchandise offerings (by focusing on unique and original merchandise, leveraging local merchandise to reflect the area, making their merchandise akin to art, offering sustainable merchandise, and a high fashion product assortment). In addition, we focus on five innovative merchandising strategies which help the retailer connect the brand to the customer (creating themes, reflecting the brand story, being playful, signaling exclusivity, and virtual merchandising). We then discuss how retailers can utilize social and technological tools to amplify the retailer identity to consumers, thus increasing the likelihood that a consumer will view their identity congruent with the retail brand.     

Shopping in the omnichannel supply chain under price competition and product return

In recent years, omnichannel retailing has created value for prospective consumers. The rise of omnichannel retailing has changed consumers' buying habits, and manufacturers are facing stiff competition from retailers. To reduce this competition effect, manufacturers and retailers often work together to reduce showroom display costs. Despite this practice, there is little understanding of how omnichannel retailing impacts supply chain (SC) profit under competitive conditions. We investigate the test-in-store-and-buy-online (TSBO) retailing strategy and its impact on SC profit and price competition between manufacturers. The retailer sells products of both manufacturers through its website but displays products of only one manufacturer in the showroom, which bears the displaying cost. The retailer adopts a return policy for the other manufacturer. Stackelberg game was used to examine how members of the chain interact, and Nash equilibrium was used to find optimal strategies for players under decentralized and integrated channels. The results show that the TSBO strategy in retailing benefits all supply chain players under the integrated channel. A further interesting finding is that omnichannel SC profits are highest when retailers adopt a return policy. When two manufacturers compete and adopt different sales models, the manufacturer who uses the TSBO retail model reaps the most profit. Several other managerial insights are drawn from sensitivity analyses.     

Brand Equity Management in a Multichannel,Multimedia Retail Environment

Today's multichannel, multimedia retail marketing environment presents a number of brand management challenges. From a micro perspective, marketers must manage each individual channel and communication option to maximize their direct sales and brand equity effects, as well as any indirect brand equity effects from being associated with a particular channel or communication option. From a macro perspective, marketers must design and implement channel and communication options such that sales and brand equity effects are synergistic. Concepts, frameworks, and future research directions are put forth to address these different challenges.     

Driving In-Role and Extra-Role Brand Performance among Retail Frontline Salespeople: Antecedents and the Moderating Role of Customer Orientation

The organizational frontline in retail represents the frontline for an entire supply chain. This channel structure distances the branded supplier from the end consumer and makes the supplier dependent on a retail frontline salesperson that (1) it does not control and (2) also represents competing brands. This study reveals mechanisms that the supplier may use to influence retail frontline salespeople. We demonstrate the importance of consumer marketing programs and supplier representatives in building brand identification between the manufacturer’s brand and the retail frontline employee that translates into increased brand sales, while also revealing the role of rewards programs in stimulating brand-specific extra-role behaviors. Interestingly, retail frontline customer orientation, built by the retailer, diminishes the effect of brand extra-role behaviors toward the focal brand on the focal brand’s sales, providing an informal control mechanism for retailers to protect its objectives. The results of this study have powerful ramifications for both retailers and suppliers in achieving both their mutual, and sometimes differing, objectives related to the retail frontline.     

Is the shopper always the king/queen? Study of omnichannel retail technology use and shopping orientations

Technology is transforming how retail services are delivered and the experience lived by consumers. Online and offline channels are converging to deliver a seamless omnichannel shopping experience. However, despite retailers’ significant technology investments, shoppers do not always adopt omnichannel usage. Understanding omnichannel retail technology (ORT) usage and how it interacts with shopping orientations is thus an important research challenge.The model is tested through a field study that targets real users of a 3D virtual reality application.The results first show that omnichannel use positively influences performance and effort expectancy perceptions. Second, the effect of ORT use on decision quality depends on task orientation. Third, task orientation moderates the effect of omnichannel use on performance expectancy. Fourth, recreational orientation positively influences shoppers’ perceived experience. Fifth, perceived value is an important predictor of retail patronage intentions.     

An omnichannel approach to retailing: demystifying and identifying the factors influencing an omnichannel experience

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to identify the factors that influence an omnichannel experience. Omnichannel is an emerging approach to retailing that responds to the changing nature of how customers shop in alternation between online and offline shops, and the increasing use of digital devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets), as a consequence retailers are focusing and establishing a seamless integrated approach to their services. Omnichannel is now a hot topic in retailing but there is a lack of empirical studies into the factors that influence an omnichannel experience. Using a mixed methods approach, we propose and empirically test a conceptual model that identifies four factors influencing an omnichannel experience: brand familiarity; customisation; perceived value, and technology readiness. We conceptualise omnichannel to include three key channels; in-store, online and mobile. Two hundred and forty-six questionnaires were collected and analysed using PLS-SEM and 11 interviews were carried out with marketing/ omnichannel professionals. Our results indicate that brand familiarity has a strong influence on omnichannel (in-store, online and mobile) while perceived value has a negative impact on the mobile experience. Our results show that retailers need to consider multiple factors, such as brand familiarity, customisation, perceived value and technology readiness as influencing factors of an omnichannel experience, and plan the use of multiple touchpoints simultaneously to enhance their overall customer’s experience. Although this study demonstrates the significant factors influencing an omnichannel experience, questions remain regarding the exact use of each touchpoint by customers and the extent of overlap between the touchpoints. which .     

Automation of Warehouse Management and Assortment in the Distribution of Durable Goods: An Analysis for the Ceramics and Building Supplies Industry in Spain

The introduction of information and communication technologies can be a source of competitive advantages for the retailer, even if at significant cost. In the present work we try to identify the factors that characterize companies that invest in these technologies to automate warehouse management and, in particular, the relation between the degree of automation and the retail assortment. In order to achieve this aim, we consider a sample of distributors of ceramics and building supplies in Spain. The results suggest that warehouse management automation is related to the depth and breadth of the products carried in the retail assortment.     

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.     

Cross-channel effects of omnichannel retail marketing strategies: A review of extant data-driven research

The authors review 50 empirical retailing research papers that have appeared over the last 20 years to take stock of what we know, need to know better, and do not know yet about within-retailer cross-channel effects of omnichannel retail marketing strategies on (a) consumer responses over their purchase journeys, i.e., online and/or offline search, purchase intention, frequency, amount, returns, loyalty, and (b) the retail firm's aggregate outcomes (e.g., sales, costs, profits, product returns) by channel and overall. Specifically, the authors focus on five strategies: (1) the addition of online channel by an offline retailer; (2) the addition (or subtraction) of offline channels by an online retailer; (3) addition of mobile shopping channel (website and/or app) by offline and/or online retailer; (4) cross-channel integration strategies; and (5) retail marketing mix strategies. The author/s integrate findings from empirical research on these strategies into a number of ‘insights’ about ‘what we know’. Prominent among these are the following: Adding a transactional online channel to an offline channel improves the retailer's overall sales even though offline channel sales can be cannibalized to some degree. Adding an offline channel by an online retailer, however, boosts online channel sales as well as overall sales of the retailer. Similarly, adding a mobile shopping channel usually increases customer purchase frequency and amount and overall sales of the retailer in the long-term. Strategies for greater cross-channel integration generally have a positive effect on a retailer's overall performance while online advertising has positive effects on offline channel consideration and sales as well as overall sales of a multichannel retailer. Other insights or findings that need further study or open questions are also identified. The paper closes with managerial implications of the derived empirical insights, and suggestions for future research.     

Mobile-assisted showroomers: Understanding their purchase journey and personalities

Over the last decade, the retail sector has undergone a dramatic transformation, driven by rapid advances in consumer and retail technologies, an evolution of omnichannel environments, and changing consumers who increasingly use their smartphones inside brick-and-mortar retail stores as personal shopping assistants. In this context, showrooming has become a common practice for omnichannel mobile consumers (Flavián et al., 2020). The present study investigates the under-researched phenomenon of mobile-assisted showrooming behavior. Adopting an exploratory qualitative research approach, 31 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with consumers in a metropolitan city in Queensland, Australia. The authors propose a shopper journey framework that challenges the sequential consumer decision-making process. Influenced by showrooming predispositions, mobile-assisted showroomers pursue a hybrid product evaluation phase that encapsulates both physical and mobile activities during the brick-and-mortar retail visit. In addition, the research identifies four unique personas of mobile-assisted showroomers. The results contribute to extant literature on omnichannel and showrooming behavior by identifying predispositions, behaviors, and segments of mobile-assisted showroomers. The study provides retailers with new strategies to segment mobile-assisted shoppers more effectively and understand their needs and shopping motivations.     

The ‘online high street’ or the high street online? The implications for the urban retail hierarchy

The U.K. has the greatest proportion of online sales in Europe. This study seeks to explore the differential effects of online retailing on the (evolving) hierarchy of shopping centres by examining current trends and underlying forces. The overall objectives of the paper are to qualify and explore the influence of online retailing in the decision-making processes of leading retailers today; and to assess how virtual influences become manifest in the tangible built environment and have impacted the retail hierarchy? It differentiates online retail trends by sector and retailer size, and examines the consequences for different types of shopping centres. The empirical research is based on the changing location of stores of a major fashion retailer and interviews with three of Britain’s leading retailers that have seen the more substantial increase in online turnover in recent years. Major retailers are found to have integrated online offerings, such as click and collect, into a ‘multi-channel’ retailing approach. Online retailing has therefore become an inherent and central element within large retailers’ business and therefore real estate strategies, with considerations such as online marketplace penetration and possible ‘cannibalisation’ coming to the fore in decision-making about store location. Online retail sales are, to a degree, drawing sales away from shopping centres but its impact on the existing shopping hierarchy is largely to reinforce established long-term trends driven by the motor age and the shift to out of town retailing. This is symbolised by the largest ‘high street’ fashion retailer now having more branches in retail parks than town centres. Out of town shopping centres for example are benefitting because of the ease of goods collection offered by these locations.     

Showrooming,Webrooming, and User-Generated Content Creation in the Omnichannel Era

Omnichannel retailing characterizes a seamless and integrated approach of diverse retail channels. Showrooming and webrooming are prominent shopping trends among consumers in omnichannel retail. The purpose of this study was to examine (1) whether omnichannel consumers’ psychographic characteristics (i.e., information attainment, price comparison, social interaction, assortment seeking, and convenience seeking) had an influence on showrooming and webrooming, which then had an influence on omnichannel consumers’ user-generated content creation intention on social media and (2) whether the social-local-mobile (SoLoMo) experience moderated the links between omnichannel consumers’ showrooming/webrooming and user-generated content creation intention. An online survey was administered to a total of 680 omnichannel consumers with showrooming and webrooming experience from a U.S. consumer panel. This study found that omnichannel consumers’ showrooming and webrooming positively affected user-generated content creation intention on social media. Omnichannel consumers’ information attainment, price comparison, and social interaction positively affected showrooming. Information attainment, social interaction, and assortment seeking positively affected webrooming. The SoLoMo experience moderated the link between webrooming and user-generated content creation intention on social media. Managerial implications were discussed.     

Are privacy concerns still relevant? Revisiting consumer behaviour in omnichannel retailing

Omnichannel retailing is a new retail norm that focuses on providing a seamless interaction between retailers and consumers. Although the effect of omnichannel retailing on business is increasingly recognised, privacy concerns remain a subject of debate and a delicate issue which could potentially inhibit its growth. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model, the current study investigates consumer behaviour in omnichannel retailing and uses Psychological Reactance Theory (PRT) as the theoretical basis to examine the moderating effect of privacy concerns. A quantitative approach was adopted by means of self-administered questionnaires. 736 consumers were sampled, and the data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that consumer perception of channel integration (CPCI), consumer empowerment (CE), and trust significantly affect patronage intention in omnichannel retailing. In addition, when privacy concerns are low, the effects of CPCI and CE on trust are found to be stronger. It underscores the need to synergize channel integration, retailer-consumer relationship empowerment and effective mitigation of privacy concerns in the omnichannel retailing context. Implications of the study are provided.     

零售业顾客缺货反应研究评述

零售业主要是销售消费用品,直接面向终端顾客。关于缺货反应的研究,对后期的零售业具有重大的借鉴意义。缺货问题涉及供应链管理、顾客关系管理等诸多方面,它的研究对制造商、经销商、零售商都有很大的指导作用。否则,商品缺货可能导致零售门店损失销售额,也会削弱消费者对零售商和缺货商品品牌的信赖。     

On the measurement of retail marketing mix effects in the presence of different economic regimes

This study deals with the measurement of the effects of retail marketing instruments on annual sales in retail stores. We assume that the sales level in retail stores is determined by an interplay of supply capacity and demand factors. In some stores sales are supply-determined, whereas in other stores sales are demand-determined. If it is not known a priori what economic regime applies, the more traditional approaches lead to biased estimation results. Therefore, a switching regression model is proposed to estimate the marketing mix effects.Our ideas are tested using data from four different types of stores in the Dutch retail trade and a comparison is made with a more traditional approach. The main conclusions are: the traditional approach leads to underestimation of the marketing mix effects. A switching regression model seems to be a promising instrument for analyzing these effects. The method has a wider applicability than the retail trade.     

Integrative effects of firms' price and endorsement strategies on consumers' loyalty intention

This research examines the effects of price and brand endorsement that are adopted by firms from a consumer-based viewpoint, and provides practical brand management discussions as a reference for both manufacturer brands and retail store brands. According to the findings, manufacturer brands support high prices and boost those vivid impressions which are helpful in engendering consumer loyalty intention. Without a careful evaluation process, a brand-endorsing strategy may prove detrimental to the manufacturer. Retail store brands follow distinct pricing policies and carry out brand-endorsed strategies. Price/endorsement stimuli influence consumer brand loyalty through the partial mediating effect of brand impression. Manufacturers and retailers could define appropriate price premiums on products with a potential for a manufacturer–retailer brand co-branding as identified by market research, thus increasing the sales of both.     

The Impact of Brand Delisting on Store Switching and Brand Switching Intentions

A tool retailers often use to improve their negotiating position with brand manufacturers is to delist - or threaten to delist - the manufacturers’ brand. Because brand manufacturers rely mainly on retailers to sell their products to consumers, a brand delisting will cause a sales loss for the brand manufacturer. Therefore, many brand manufacturers feel enormous pressure to give in and improve buying conditions to favor the retailer. The question thus emerges: Can a brand manufacturer resist a retailer's threat to delist its brand(s)? If a brand delisting severely hurts retail sales, it is easier for a brand manufacturer to resist. The authors study the impact of brand delistings on store switching and brand switching using a controlled online experiment and in-store shopper survey. They develop and test a conceptual model with several antecedents of consumers’ reactions to a brand delisting and conclude that brand equity, market share, and the products’ hedonic level drive store and brand switching.