Guest editorial

Citation

Yang, K. (2015), "Guest editorial", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 9 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-03-2015-0025

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Volume 9, Issue 2

The proliferation of digital shopping channels has changed the retail landscape, motivating more consumer participation in developing brand and marketing across channels, turning them into “prosumers”. Consumers have been connected via digital touchpoints (e.g. social media, Web, mobile apps), enabling retailers to build optimal multi-channel marketing and attribution momentum. The special issue of “the impact of digital shopping channels on multi-channel marketing and attribution in the changing retail landscape” addresses this changing retail and consumer market paradigm. Four articles have been selected to its topic diversity and consumer use of digital channels in their shopping. This special issue ultimately makes a coherent voice, suggesting how retailers can capitalize on digital shopping channels, their marketing and attribution across channels.

The first paper, “Is this mobile coupon worth my private information? Customer evaluation of acquisition and transaction utility in a mobile coupon shopping context”, by Hyunjoo Im and Young Ha addresses consumer concerns for privacy in using mobile coupons and attempts to uncover determinants of consumer permission-granting intention in receiving mobile coupons. Consumer characteristics in use of mobile coupons were incorporated into acquisition and transaction utility theory in predicting consumer mobile coupon usage decision. This study provides detailed insights for retailers in devising mobile coupon marketing that relieves fear of spamming and perceived privacy risk while adding more economic benefits and enjoyments of mobile coupon use depending on consumer characteristics.

The second paper, “Typologies and touchpoints: designing multi-channel digital strategies”, by Karla Straker, Cara Wrigley and Michael Rosemann attempts to identify and refine digital channel typologies and touchpoints via a digital channel model. A content analysis of 100 companies across 16 industries in the study provides four digital channel typologies with 34 digital touchpoints. This study suggests that consumers should be an active character in the development of digital channel strategies and proposes that understanding the requirements of the industry, companies’ objectives and the customer needs is an essential step in designing digital strategies.

The third paper by Ran Huang, Stacy Lee, HaeJung Kim and Leslie Evans, “The impact of brand experiences on brand resonance in multi-channel fashion retailing”, approaches to build brand – consumer resonance across channels. The interesting finding shows that affective brand experience has a stronger effect on relational experience in an offline channel, whereas sensory experience has a stronger effect on relational experience in an online store. Examining the effects of multi-dimensions of brand experience on brand resonance in offline and online channels provides tactics of how retailers make branding efforts across channels.

The fourth paper by Chawanuan Kananukul, Sojin Jung and Kittichai Watchravesringkan, “Building customer equity through trust in social networking sites: a perspective from Thai consumers”, provides implications of developing customer equity through retailers’ brand pages in social networking sites (SNSs). Using a cognitive-behavioral model, the researchers examined the effects of three perceived benefits (i.e. practical, entertainment and social benefits) on trust of SNS, forming brand trust, brand loyalty and customer equity. The study emphasizes how trust in SNSs generates customer equity and provides practical implications for fast fashion brand retailers to implement SNS brand pages to build trust, brand loyalty and, ultimately, customer equity toward brands.

Through this special issue, I hope that you can deepen and enrich your insights to capitalize on each channel’s strength and optimize digital touchpoints to provide a smart and pleasant shopping experience that leverages a retailer’s success in this digital era.

Kiseol Yang