Sascha Steinmann

Cross-channel integration – is it valued by customers?

It has been common for retail companies to use multiple channels simultaneously. However, simultaneous use is only the first step in creating a customer-centric multichannel system that demands channel synergies rather than parallel retail formats. Therefore, the perceived integration of customer-related functions and processes between the channels of multichannel systems is analyzed with respect to its significance for customer loyalty and usage of a multichannel system. Drawing on a sample (n) of 981 customers, the results indicate that linkages between retail channels positively affect customer loyalty and verify the importance of establishing a well-integrated – ‘seamless’ as perceived by the customer – multichannel system.

Effects of cross-channel synergies and complementarity in a multichannel e-commerce system – an investigation of the interrelation of e-commerce, m-commerce and IETV-commerce

With the increasing availability of Internet-enabled devices (such as smartphones and tablet PCs), online shopping behavior changes and shifts to a multidevice usage. This implies that retailers have to operate and manage diverse online channel formats. Next to the individual capabilities of an individual online channel, we expect that interactions across the electronic retail channels (e-channels) are of relevance to create a holistic online shopping experience. Hence, this research merges knowledge from multichannel retailing and e-commerce to investigate the role of synergy and complementarity among e-channels and their effects on online shopping behavior. On the basis of theoretical assumptions, we develop a conceptual framework for a multichannel e-commerce environment and empirically test it with a data set of N = 904 consumers. We discuss our findings, which underline the relevance to create cross-channel synergy and complementarity among e-channels and derive implications for the management of multichannel e-commerce systems.

Retailer Corporate Social Responsibility Is Relevant to Consumer Behavior

With regard to the topicality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in retail practice, only a few studies have comprehensively analyzed the role of CSR in retail. Due to the specific role of a retailer as a gatekeeper between the producer and the consumer in the supply chain, a comprehensive understanding of the impact of consumer perceptions of CSR activities is of great relevance. Therefore, this study contributes information regarding the impact of CSR activities on retailer performance. Using a comprehensive conceptualization of CSR, the results of our customer survey (N = 3,313) suggest that CSR has positive implications as driver of customer loyalty and favorable consumer purchasing behavior. The authors demonstrate the CSR dimensions that are most important for retailers to influence positively consumer purchasing behavior. This study highlights the significance of the credibility of retailer CSR activities and show that consumers’ CSR orientation impacts the relationship between retailer CSR activities and consumer behavior.

Clustering Customer Contact Sequences - Results of a Customer Survey in Retailing

We used a sequence alignment method to cluster customers (N = 132) of a branch of a German consumer electronics retailer according to the sequence of the customers’ contacts with its different marketing channels (e.g. store, homepage, newspaper advertising) during the whole purchase process. In doing so, we obtained three clusters in a short sequences and a long sequences segment. Results reveal differences in the customers’ behaviour concerning the customer contacts and their functions in the whole purchase process, as well as between the identified customer segments. Customer segmentation based upon demographic or psychographic variables would not have been able to enrich knowledge of the customers in this manner.

The Impact of Health Warnings on Children's Consumption Decisions

Children are a key target group for retailers and manufacturers (Effertz, 2008; Schor, 2004). Consequently, children are exposed to many marketing messages (Cross, 2002; Kunkel et al., 2004), which is evident in an increasing amount of advertising directly aimed at and targeted towards them (Kunkel, et al., 2004) and a large number of products specifically geared towards children as buyers (Cook, 2009; Honeyman, 2010; Lawlor, 2000; Wilson and Wood, 2004).

The Impact of Pricing on Consumer Decision-Making for and Evaluations of Premium Private Labeled Brands in Grocery Retailing

We investigated the effects of adding a premium private label product to a choice set of two competing products (a premium brand and a traditional private label). Furthermore, our results show that the manipulation of the pricing of the premium private label influences consumer choice and evaluation of specific product attributes of all products in the choice set.

Akzeptanz von In-Store Mobile Payment – Ergebnisse einer Kundensegmentierung im stationären Einzelhandel

Marktdaten belegen, dass die Akzeptanz von In-Store M-Payment, trotz technologischer Fortschritte und vermehrter Bezahlmoglichkeiten, gering ausfallt. Daher ist von Interesse, inwieweit die Akzeptanz von In-Store M-Payment von der Bereitschaft Technologien zu nutzen abhangt. Insbesondere stellt sich die Frage, ob gewisse Kundensegmente eher dazu neigen In-Store M-Payment als alternative Bezahlmoglichkeit zu verwenden. Hierzu wird eine Segmentierung auf Basis des TRI 2.0 durchgefuhrt und Determinanten der Technologieakzeptanz fur die einzelnen Kundensegmente verglichen.

The In-store Location of Promotional Displays Can Alter Shoppers’ Attention and Buying Decisions: An Abstract

Products presented in reality have a higher chance to be purchased than products that are symbolically presented as a photograph (Muller 2013). Loewenstein (1996) explains the superiority of the products presented in reality by the fact that the presentation’s sensory richness increases vividness. Thus, shoppers experience the gratification arising from consuming the more intensively presented products in reality than concerning a symbolic presentation, which is supposed to lead to a higher buying impulse. In fact, especially in the context of online shopping, studies show that a higher vividness is accompanied by a greater intention to buy (Steinmann et al. 2014).

The Effects of Customer Evaluations of Channel Integration: Does an Integrated Multichannel Strategy Pay Off?

It has been common for retail companies to use multiple channels simultaneously (Rangaswamy and van Bruggen 2005). However, simultaneous use is only the first step in creating a customer-centric multichannel system that demands channel synergies rather than parallel retail formats (McGoldrick and Collins 2007). At issue is therefore not the degree of integration undertaken by a firm but rather the customer’ perception of the extent of integration and how the channels allow a complementary and differentiated use of the multichannel system in purchase processes (Verhoef, Neslin, and Vroomen 2007) . As such, cross-channel use of multichannel systems should offer customers more uses and new uses of retail channels than one-channel systems (Berman and Thelen 2004; Verhagen and van Dolen 2009).

Understanding the New Online Customer Journey: The Multichannel E-Commerce Framework—An Abstract

In this article, we develop a conceptual framework for online retailing that contributes to broadening the understanding of online shopping across electronic channels (e-channels) and e-channel touchpoints. For this purpose, we define an e-channel as a category of Internet-enabled devices (e.g., mobile devices) that consumers can use to interact with and purchase from an online retailer. An e-channel touchpoint is defined as a specific digital shopping format (e.g., a mobile shopping app) that is employed by a retailer to provide consumers with an online shopping opportunity. By introducing the terms “e-channel” and “e-channel touchpoint,” we extend the understanding of “the online channel” to a perspective of “multichannel e-commerce.”