https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5896-748X
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ABSTRACT
Retailers increasingly focus on preventing competitive research shopping through a closer integration of their retail channels. This integration often focuses on prepurchase aspects of the purchase process (e.g., tablets in stores to access the online store). Cross-channel delivery might be a postpurchase means to reduce competitive research shopping. One distinguishes between click and collect (delivery from the online shop to the store) and home delivery (delivery from the store to consumers’ home). An experimental study and an adoption model developed from a large field survey confirm the positive effects of both forms of cross-channel delivery in reducing consumers’ propensity to research shop competitively. Situational drivers appear to be instrumental especially for click and collect (Experimental Study 1) but also emerge as a general driver of value perception of the service in a large field survey (Study 2, n = 1,500). Our results suggest that retailers should communicate relevant, channel-specific benefits of cross-channel delivery (e.g., time savings) to drive adoption and lower competitive research shopping.
Notes
1. Please note that we also include a switch to competition within the same channel (e.g., visiting another webstore) in our definition of competitive research shopping, because, managerially, the consequences for the retailer are equally negative and, conceptually, the behavior is influenced by similar underlying drivers (such as larger assortment, lower prices [Citation74]), and these can be a motivation for either changing channel or changing retailer.
2. This research focuses on drivers of research shopping, that is, a switching of channels. This is distinct from general channel choice frameworks [Citation3, Citation41, Citation46], which do not conceptualize and test channel switching, even if they involve a discussion of channel choice at different stages of the purchase process [Citation21].
3. We refrain from formulating our hypothesis specific to the underlying situational needs (e.g., [Citation51, Citation71]), because we want to ensure the generalizability of the moderating role of situational drivers across channels and contexts.
4. Following Hair et al. [Citation30], we conducted a permutation test (n = 1,000), as it does not rely on distributional assumptions and prior research shows that the permutation-based approach is more conservative than a parametric test [Citation65].
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Anja Weber
Anja Weber ([email protected]) is assistant professor at the Deutsche Post Chair of Marketing at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany. She holds a graduate degree in psychology from the University of Mannheim and a Ph.D. in business administration from HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. Dr. Weber’s research focuses on sustainable consumer behavior, message framing, and point-of-sale marketing (online and offline). Her papers have been published in such journals as the AMS Review, Journal of Business Research, and Resources, Conservation & Recycling.
Erik Maier
Erik Maier ([email protected]; corresponding author) is assistant professor for Retail and Multi-Channel Management at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany. He holds a Ph.D. in business administration from ESCP Europe and has worked as management consultant for McKinsey & Company and as marketing manager for an online retailer. Dr. Maier’s research focuses on assortment perceptions in e-commerce stores, cross-channel purchase behavior, and the societal consequences of online retail. His papers have been published in such journals as International Journal of Electronic Commerce, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and Journal of Industrial Ecology.