Integrating Bricks with Clicks: Retailer-Level and Channel-Level Outcomes of Online–Offline Channel Integration

Dennis Herhausen, Jochen Binder, Marcus Schoegel and Andreas Herrmann

Journal of Retailing, 2015, vol. 91, issue 2, 309-325

Abstract: This research examines the impact of online–offline channel integration (OI), defined as integrating access to and knowledge about the offline channel into an online channel. Although channel integration has been acknowledged as a promising strategy for retailers, its effects on customer reactions toward retailers and across different channels remain unclear. Drawing on technology adoption research and diffusion theory, the authors conceptualize a theoretical model where perceived service quality and perceived risk of the Internet store mediate the impact of OI while the Internet shopping experience of customers moderates the impact of OI. The authors then test for the indirect, conditional effects of OI on search intentions, purchase intentions and willingness to pay. Importantly, they differentiate between retailer-level and channel-level effects, thereby controlling for interdependencies between different channels. The results of three studies provide converging evidence and show that OI leads to a competitive advantage and channel synergies rather than channel cannibalization. These findings have direct implications for marketers and retailers interested in understanding whether and how integrating different channels affects customer outcomes.

Keywords: Multi-channel management; Omnichannel retailing; Channel integration; Channel synergies; Channel cannibalization; Willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (123)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435914000979
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jouret:v:91:y:2015:i:2:p:309-325

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2014.12.009

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Retailing is currently edited by A. Roggeveen

More articles in Journal of Retailing from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().