Cross-channel retail services as a remedy for retailer switching?: An investigation of retailer switching and potential of cross-channel retail services

This cumulative dissertation consists of four papers that investigate retailer switching and identify potential and threat of cross-channel retail services (CCRS) for retail businesses. The first, conceptual paper compares different theories and models of retail quality. It derives the concept of retailer aspects as a framework to measure retailer quality and further discusses how CCRS can serve as a tool to enhance those retailer aspects. The second paper discusses results from a consumer panel survey and quantifies the influence of satisfaction with retailer aspects on retailer switching during webrooming behavior. The findings of this second paper present the two retailer aspects assurance of delivery and competitive product pricing as key determinants for retailer switching. The third paper defines CCRS and outlines a conceptual classification scheme for CCRS assessments – the CCRS Pentagon. The fourth paper quantifies the impact of CCRS adoption and retailer aspect preferences on CCRS-induced retailer switching based on a second consumer panel survey. Results from this second study affirm the existence of CCRS-induced retailer switching. The paper concludes that CCRS can serve as a retailer’s lock-in mechanism, but that the availability of CCRS in retail environments also threatens retail businesses. In sum, the dissertation provides academic contributions and suggestions for further academic research as well as practical implications and management tools for application in retail businesses.:I. Introduction II. Enhancing Multi-Channel Retail Quality through Cross-Channel Services III. What Drives Competitive Webrooming? The Roles of Channel and Retailer Aspects IV. Cross-Channel Retail Services: A Service Classification Along The Retail Function V. Service-induced Retailer Switching – Power of Cross-Channel Retail Services VI. Conclusion Appendix A: Estimated parameters in baseline-category logit model Appendix B: Conditional marginal effects and conditional probability Appendix C: T-Tests for retailer aspects per service exampl

Situation-Based Shifts in Consumer Web Site Benefit Salience: The Joint Role of Affect and Cognition

This study addresses the process by which differences in web site benefit salience arise in consumers’ minds for different anticipated usage situations. We investigate two routes by which situation may determine consumer benefit salience and find support for both route structures. The results indicate that individuals’ relative benefit importance ratings shift between different anticipated usage situations, both directly, and indirectly, through consumers’ anticipated affective states. Furthermore, the number of benefits that is rated as important by consumers is found to also differ depending on their anticipated affective states, providing further insight into why consumer benefit salience may vary across situations.affective route;cognitive route;situatieafhankelijkheid;usage situation;web site benefit salience;HD9696.82

Virtual Geodemographics: Repositioning Area Classification for Online and Offline Spaces

Computer mediated communication and the Internet has fundamentally changed how consumers and producers connect and interact across both real space, and has also opened up new opportunities in virtual spaces. This paper describes how technologies capable of locating and sorting networked communities of geographically disparate individuals within virtual communities present a sea change in the conception, representation and analysis of socioeconomic distributions through geodemographic analysis. We argue that through virtual communities, social networks between individuals may subsume the role of neighbourhood areas as the most appropriate units of analysis, and as such, geodemographics needs to be repositioned in order to accommodate social similarities in virtual, as well as geographical, space. We end the paper by proposing a new model for geodemographics which spans both real and virtual geographies

An examination of ongoing trends in airline ancillary revenues

The airline industry seems permanently embedded in producing thin margins and continuously combatting downward pressure on yields. To perpetuate the problem, the industry remains eclipsed with high cost structures and low barriers to entry. However, a new sizzling concept continues to counterbalance these effects in the form of ancillary revenues. Globally, these revenues have increased by 121% from 2010 to 2014 – and the trend is set to continue as carriers are quickly implementing structural changes to accommodate these revenues streams. This paper examines the performance of the two core classifications of ancillary revenues, which are unbundled products and commission based income. It also investigates the willingness of passengers to pay for these services together with what type of ancillary items are acceptable at a particular price point. The study found that passengers value a narrow range of perceived ‘necessity’ products and services such as food and drink, checked baggage and seat assignment as opposed to perceived ‘optional’ unbundled or commission based products/services. It also found significant differences in WTP for specific ancillary services based on carrier type (FSC/LCC/Charter), length of flight (long and short haul) and journey purpose (business, leisure, VFR)

Demand Management Opportunities in E-fulfillment: What Internet Retailers Can Learn from Revenue Management

In this paper, we explain how Internet retailers can learn from proven revenue management concepts and use them to reduce costs and enhance service. We focus on attended deliveries as these provide the greatest opportunities and challenges. The key driver is service differentiation. Revenue management has shown that companies can do much better than a one-size-fits-all first-come-first-serve strategy when selling scarce capacity to a heterogeneous market. Internet retailers have strong levers at their disposal for actively steering demand, notably the offered delivery time windows and their associated prices. Unlike traditional revenue management, these demand management decisions affect both revenues and costs. This calls for a closer coordination of marketing and operations than current common practice.ketenbeheer;revenue management;home delivery;E-fulfillment;demand management;marketing-operations interface

E-Fulfillment and Multi-Channel Distribution – A Review

This review addresses the specific supply chain management issues of Internet fulfillment in a multi-channel environment. It provides a systematic overview of managerial planning tasks and reviews corresponding quantitative models. In this way, we aim to enhance the understanding of multi-channel e-fulfillment and to identify gaps between relevant managerial issues and academic literature, thereby indicating directions for future research. One of the recurrent patterns in today’s e-commerce operations is the combination of ‘bricks-and-clicks’, the integration of e-fulfillment into a portfolio of multiple alternative distribution channels. From a supply chain management perspective, multi-channel distribution provides opportunities for serving different customer segments, creating synergies, and exploiting economies of scale. However, in order to successfully exploit these opportunities companies need to master novel challenges. In particular, the design of a multi-channel distribution system requires a constant trade-off between process integration and separation across multiple channels. In addition, sales and operations decisions are ever more tightly intertwined as delivery and after-sales services are becoming key components of the product offering.Distribution;E-fulfillment;Literature Review;Online Retailing

Applying a Topical Relevance Typology to Analyze Online Product Information Types and Their Effects on Internet Consumer Decision

This paper lays out a research proposal of systematically analyzing and comparing the decision effects of online product information types. Hardly any in-depth knowledge is currently available on how different information types influence online consumer trust and purchase intention. To address this research gap, we apply a generic function-based topical relevance typology to classify the variety of online product information and plan for focused comparisons of the functional roles played by different information types in e-retailing. Understanding the differential impacts of each information type provides a basis for prioritizing online information provisioning and organization, which becomes particularly meaningful in the current context of information overload. The paper briefly reviews information research in e-commerce, introduces the product type as an important moderating factor, and discusses the conceptual basis and applicability of applying the generic relevance typology to analyze product relevant information. The research model and preliminary hypotheses are also described

Designing a location model for face to face and on-line retailing for the UK grocery market

The vast and rapid expansion of internet usage has generated widespread online sales, making the UK one of the leading countries for e-commerce. Until now there has been no clear understanding or analysis of the spatial variations of online activities. Many studies have,however, examined the variance in online buying among different demographic groups usually based on limited survey information. These variations have often been explained by reference to two theories – efficiency theory and diffusion of innovations theory (Rogers, 1995). This lack of research to date is also manifest in the lack of consideration of online sales in traditional store location methodologies. The aim of this research is to establish a new model for site location which includes e-grocery shopping on the UK retail sector. Having explored the literature around the geography of e-commerce and the surveys of geodemographic usage, the thesis explores data unique to the academic sector- namely Sainsbury’s store revenue (for both physical and online channels) and customer data based on their loyalty card (interaction data). The analysis of these data sets establishedfour major trends in the relationship between online share and store provision with insights into the substitution of online and physical channels in areas with limited accessibility to physical grocery stores. Using this information, a new, revised SIM is built and calibrated to include estimates of revenue for both face to face and online stores. It is hoped this will provide an important addition to the existing kitbag of techniques available to retail store location planners

Designing a location model for face to face and on-line retailing for the UK grocery market

The vast and rapid expansion of internet usage has generated widespread online sales, making the UK one of the leading countries for e-commerce. Until now there has been no clear understanding or analysis of the spatial variations of online activities. Many studies have,however, examined the variance in online buying among different demographic groups usually based on limited survey information. These variations have often been explained by reference to two theories – efficiency theory and diffusion of innovations theory (Rogers, 1995). This lack of research to date is also manifest in the lack of consideration of online sales in traditional store location methodologies. The aim of this research is to establish a new model for site location which includes e-grocery shopping on the UK retail sector. Having explored the literature around the geography of e-commerce and the surveys of geodemographic usage, the thesis explores data unique to the academic sector- namely Sainsbury’s store revenue (for both physical and online channels) and customer data based on their loyalty card (interaction data). The analysis of these data sets establishedfour major trends in the relationship between online share and store provision with insights into the substitution of online and physical channels in areas with limited accessibility to physical grocery stores. Using this information, a new, revised SIM is built and calibrated to include estimates of revenue for both face to face and online stores. It is hoped this will provide an important addition to the existing kitbag of techniques available to retail store location planners

An evolutionary perspective on Internet adoption by retailers in the Netherlands

The paper analyses from an evolutionary perspective how retailers respond and adapt to b2c e-commerce. As such, the paper explores the diversity of behavior of retailers with respect to the adoption of e-commerce. More in particular, it examines empirically the extent to which the adoption of Internet strategies is affected by firm-specific features (e.g., habits of the entrepreneur, routines of firms), network relationships, and geographical proximity. Logistic regression analyses of 643 independent retailers in the Netherlands suggest that geography matters, controlling for other factors. That is, the probability of having an Internet strategy increases significantly when (a) the more knowledge spillovers are locally available; (b) the more demanding local customers are; and (c), the less rivalry is present locally.evolutionary economics, Internet strategies, retailers, city centres, the Netherlands