Blended shopping: Interactivity and individualization

In this paper we describe in short the main characteristics of the separate sales channels traditional retail and eCommerce with regards to the sales process of consumer goods. Afterwards we explain the integration of both channels to blended shopping. The behaviour of consumers is influenced by technology driven trends from which we identified the development of web 2.0 and social networks as relevant for blended shopping. Additionally mass customization offers new possibilities to meet the increasing demand for individualized goods close to mass product prizes. The combination of the discussed trends and developments is the basis for a method to structure the development of blended shopping concepts for retailer. As examples two prototypes developed according to results of this method are presented in this paper. The paper closes with a future outlook.