To read this content please select one of the options below:

Multi‐channel shopping: understanding what drives channel choice

Denise D. Schoenbachler (Associate Professor of Marketing, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA)
Geoffrey L. Gordon (OTA/Off the Record Research Professor on Investment Research, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA)

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0736-3761

Article publication date: 1 February 2002

27428

Abstract

Observes that traditional retail, catalog, and online‐only businesses face a critical decision – to accept a new, yet unrefined business model that includes multiple channels or to retain their single channel model and risk becoming obsolete and left behind by new, multi‐channel competitors. The decision process and implementation of a multi‐channel strategy could be simplified if businesses understood what drives consumers to a single channel, multiple channels, and which channels are preferred. Outlines the key issues facing multi‐channel marketers, and encourages multi‐channel businesses to take a customer‐centric view rather than a channel focused view to work through the challenges unique to the multi‐channel marketer. A model of multi‐channel buyer behavior is proposed to help the multi‐channel marketer develop a customer‐centric view. Presents a series of propositions which serve to encourage and direct future research in this area.

Keywords

Citation

Schoenbachler, D.D. and Gordon, G.L. (2002), "Multi‐channel shopping: understanding what drives channel choice", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 42-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760210414943

Publisher

:

MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited

Related articles