Consumer Behavior in a Multichannel, Multimedia Retailing Environment

Over the past decade, multichannel, multimedia retailing environments have grown in variety, scope, and sophistication. However, research regarding the implications of this trend for consumer behavior is rather scarce. We seek to address this need by providing a comprehensive yet flexible approach for formulating promising consumer behavior-related research questions based in multichannel, multimedia retailing environments. This approach adopts a consumer-centric view of multichannel, multimedia retailing and identifies a number of important dimensions of this environment. We then illustrate how this approach could be applied via specific examples involving consumer memory, product assortment, and information acquisition. We conclude by considering the managerial implications of our proposed approach.

[1]  A. Muñiz,et al.  Religiosity in the Abandoned Apple Newton Brand Community , 2005 .

[2]  J. Gutman A Means-End Chain Model Based on Consumer Categorization Processes , 1982 .

[3]  Constance Elise Porter,et al.  Cultivating Trust and Harvesting Value in Virtual Communities , 2008, Manag. Sci..

[4]  John Deighton,et al.  From the EditorThe Territory of Consumer Research: Walking the Fences , 2007 .

[5]  Kirthi Kalyanam,et al.  Strategic Online and Offline Retail Pricing: A Review and Research Agenda , 2010 .

[6]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Affordance, conventions, and design , 1999, INTR.

[7]  N. Ravishanker,et al.  Multichannel Shopping: Causes and Consequences , 2007 .

[8]  Ko de Ruyter,et al.  E-tailers versus retailers: which factors determine consumer preferences , 2001 .

[9]  Craig J. Thompson,et al.  Emotional Branding and the Strategic Value of the Doppelgänger Brand Image , 2006 .

[10]  R. Kozinets The Field behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities , 2002 .

[11]  R. Feinberg,et al.  The Impact of Electronic Commerce as a Mode of Product Purchase on Consumer Retail Shopping Alternatives , 2004 .

[12]  Amit Das,et al.  Knowledge and Productivity in Technical Support Work , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[13]  Erik Brynjolfsson,et al.  Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers , 2000 .

[14]  Trichy V. Krishnan,et al.  The impact of consumer Internet experience on channel preference and usage intentions across the different stages of the buying process , 2007 .

[15]  Hod Lipson,et al.  Fab@Home: the personal desktop fabricator kit , 2007 .

[16]  Lee Sproull,et al.  Reducing social context cues: electronic mail in organizational communication , 1986 .

[17]  Daniel Kahneman New challenges to the rationality assumption , 1994 .

[18]  Andrew J. Rohm,et al.  A typology of online shoppers based on shopping motivations , 2004 .

[19]  Peter T. L. Popkowski Leszczyc,et al.  Consumer store choice dynamics: an analysis of the competitive market structure for grocery stores , 2000 .

[20]  Alok Gupta,et al.  An Empirical Study of Consumer Switching from Traditional to Electronic Channels: A Purchase-Decision Process Perspective , 2004, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[21]  D. Maister The Psychology of Waiting Lines , 2005 .

[22]  H. A. Green,et al.  THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY , 2001 .

[23]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design , 1986 .

[24]  Ben McConnell,et al.  Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message , 2006 .

[25]  Raymond R. Burke Do you see what I see? The future of virtual shopping , 1997 .

[26]  J. Brown,et al.  Knowledge and Organization: A Social-Practice Perspective , 2001 .

[27]  Joel Huber,et al.  Nonconscious Goals and Consumer Choice , 2008 .

[28]  Jacquelyn S. Thomas,et al.  Challenges and Opportunities in Multichannel Customer Management , 2006 .

[29]  Arvind Rangaswamy,et al.  Opportunities and challenges in multichannel marketing: An introduction to the special issue , 2005 .

[30]  Laurette Dubé,et al.  The role of pleasant music in servicescapes: A test of the dual model of environmental perception ☆ , 2007 .

[31]  Glenn B. Voss,et al.  Determinants of online channel use and overall satisfaction with a relational, multichannel service provider , 2003 .

[32]  Barbara E. Kahn,et al.  Perceptions of assortment variety: The effects of congruency between consumers’ internal and retailers’ external organization , 2005 .

[33]  Julie L. Ozanne,et al.  Alternative Ways of Seeking Knowledge in Consumer Research , 1988 .

[34]  Zhiping Walter,et al.  An empirical study of consumer switching from traditional to electronic channels , 2004 .

[35]  Rosellina Ferraro,et al.  The Roles of Channel-Category Associations and Geodemographics in Channel Patronage , 2004 .

[36]  S. Neslin,et al.  Multichannel Shopper Segments and Their Covariates , 2008 .

[37]  R. Dholakia,et al.  Multichannel retailing: A case study of early experiences , 2005 .

[38]  Heikki Karjaluoto,et al.  Factors influencing consumers' willingness to accept mobile advertising: a conceptual model , 2005, Int. J. Mob. Commun..

[39]  Jochen Wirtz,et al.  Consumer complaining to firms: the determinants of channel choice , 2004 .

[40]  Zaiyong Tang,et al.  Giving an “e-human touch” to e-tailing: The moderating roles of static information quantity and consumption motive in the effectiveness of an anthropomorphic information agent , 2007 .

[41]  Ursula Y. Sullivan,et al.  Managing Marketing Communications with Multichannel Customers , 2005 .

[42]  D. Kahneman,et al.  When More Pain Is Preferred to Less: Adding a Better End , 1993 .

[43]  V. Kumar,et al.  Who are the multichannel shoppers and how do they perform?: Correlates of multichannel shopping behavior , 2005 .

[44]  G. Haines,et al.  The Theory of Buyer Behavior. , 1970 .

[45]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  Goal Setting and Goal Striving in Consumer Behavior , 1999 .

[46]  Carl F. Mela,et al.  Customer Channel Migration , 2008 .

[47]  Amitava Chattopadhyay,et al.  On the Perceived Value of Money: The Reference Dependence of Currency Numerosity Effects , 2007 .

[48]  M. Sujan,et al.  Consumer Knowledge: Effects on Evaluation Strategies Mediating Consumer Judgments , 1985 .

[49]  Richard A. Easterlin,et al.  The High Price of Materialism , 2004 .

[50]  W. Dugger The Economic Institutions of Capitalism , 1987 .

[51]  Rebecca K. Ratner,et al.  Choosing less-preferred experiences for the sake of variety. , 1999 .

[52]  A. Fotheringham Note---Consumer Store Choice and Choice Set Definition , 1988 .

[53]  Tuck Siong Chung,et al.  Marketing Models of Service and Relationships , 2006 .

[54]  S. Neslin,et al.  Multichannel customer management: Understanding the research-shopper phenomenon , 2007 .

[55]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Crafting Integrated Multichannel Retailing Strategies , 2010 .

[56]  Mark Thompson,et al.  Structural and Epistemic Parameters in Communities of Practice , 2005, Organ. Sci..

[57]  Terry L. Childers,et al.  Individual Differences in Haptic Information Processing: The "Need for Touch" Scale , 2003 .

[58]  Alladi Venkatesh,et al.  Mobile Marketing in the Retailing Environment: Current Insights and Future Research Avenues , 2010 .

[59]  KieslerSara,et al.  Reducing Social Context Cues , 1986 .

[60]  Raymond R. Burke Technology and the customer interface: What consumers want in the physical and virtual store , 2002 .

[61]  Maureen Johnson The Application of Geodemographics to Retailing , 1997 .

[62]  J. Zaichkowsky,et al.  The Why of Consumption: Contemporary Perspectives and Consumer Motives, Goals, and Desires , 2002 .

[63]  Devon S. Johnson Beyond trial: Consumer assimilation of electronic channels , 2008 .

[64]  Robert Stone,et al.  Virtual reality and telepresence , 1992, Robotica.

[65]  Ursula Y. Sullivan,et al.  Customer Migration: An Empirical Investigation across Multiple Channels , 2004 .

[66]  V. Mahajan,et al.  Consumers in a multichannel environment: Product utility, process utility, and channel choice , 2005 .

[67]  E. Hirschman,et al.  Hedonic Consumption: Emerging Concepts, Methods and Propositions , 1982 .

[68]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  When Web Pages Influence Choice: Effects of Visual Primes on Experts and Novices , 2002 .

[69]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  A Social Influence Model of Consumer Participation in Network- and Small-Group-Based Virtual Communities , 2004 .

[70]  D. Kahneman Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics , 2003 .

[71]  R. Belk,et al.  The Missing Streetcar Named Desire , 2000 .

[72]  U. Dholakia,et al.  Communal Service Delivery: How Customers Benefit from Participation in Firm-Hosted Virtual P3 Communities , 2009 .

[73]  S. Cook THE CONTRIBUTION REVOLUTION : Letting Volunteers Build Your Business , 2008 .

[74]  Jochen Wirtz,et al.  Congruency of Scent and Music As a Driver of In-Store Evaluations and Behavior , 2001 .