Abdullah Okumuş

Images of Italy, France and Morocco as tourist destinations.

For a geographic area to become successful as a tourist destination, it is crucially important to recognise the tourist destinations perceived images since they effect the individuals subjective perception and consequent behaviour and destination choice. This importance has led to a growing body of research on tourism destination image. In this research, image differences of three competing Mediterranean destinations – Italy, France and Morocco – were examined in terms of how they are perceived by university students. Research data were analysed by stepwise discriminant analysis. According to research results it was found that perceived images of the three destinations are significantly different. Also, results showed that, potential customers for Italy, France and Morocco destinations could be predicted by using a discriminant function.

Chapter 6: The Birth of Omni-Channel Marketing and New Dynamics of Consumers’ Approach to Retail Channels

Abstract Nowadays companies are constantly changing their retail settings and strategies to keep up with technological developments and consumer needs. Digital transformation enabled one’s shopping experience to be more efficient in terms of money, time, physical effort and other elements that determine the price a consumer has to pay. Channels of communication and distribution have evolved, increased in number and also became integrated. Mobile devices, mobile applications and location services help consumers in their shopping journey. These developments have led us to a new concept called omni-channel management. In theory, the omni-channel refers to a single and unified channel experience with multiple touchpoints, which include physical stores, online stores and direct marketing; mass communication channels (television, radio, print media, C2C, etc.), online channels (social media, search engines, comparison sites, e-mail, display etc.) and mobile channels (SMS, branded apps, etc.). Some examples of omni-channel practices are click-reserve, click-collect, tablets as in-store sales tools, in-store product order through mobile apps, etc. In this chapter, the latest trends in marketing channels are discussed with enabling digital technologies and relevant success factors. Challenges and opportunities in implementing omni-channel strategies and several omni-channel initiatives from Turkey are reported. A research was employed to present consumers’ preferences of touchpoints/channels for search, payment and delivery, and to find out the drivers that lead consumers to use more than one channel simultaneously and/or interchangeably in a buying process. The results will guide the readers to understand consumer behaviour in the new omni-channel world.