About this Research Topic
Advances in information technology and communication have led to an increase in the number of retailing formats through which consumers can contact a company. Omnichannel retailing is changing consumer habits and shopping behavior. In addition to traditional physical and online stores, new channels and touchpoints, such as mobiles, social media, smart TVs, and smartwatches, among others, have transformed the consumer buying process.
Using omnichannel strategies, companies and retailers can ensure coherent and consistent communication across the various channels and touchpoints customers may wish to employ to interact with these entities at any given time. Omnichannel management continues to be a big challenge for brands, because "omnishoppers" customers are more demanding and expect companies to provide them with a superior shopping experience.
Omnichannel is one of the most important retail revolutions of recent years, impacting in a variety of areas, such as marketing, e-commerce, strategy, and information systems, where consumer behavior and psychology take a central position.
Omnichannel retailing shows increasing agility and requires further research. Therefore, this special issue aims to advance the understanding of the omnichannel phenomenon in its various contexts and offers an opportunity to establish an integrative framework for the topic.
This research topic welcomes scientific papers that cover the following questions about shopper behavior in the omnichannel context (but are not limited to):
• Do specific touchpoints create preferences for and lead to the choice of specific retail channels?
• What are the interrelationships between a customer’s touchpoint choice and that same customer’s retail channel choice?
• How does the brand choice process differ by channel, and does the channel choice process differ by brand?
• What drives customers’ simultaneous choice of touchpoints and channels?
• What is the extent of forward-looking behavior in brand/channel choice?
• What is the role of social influence on brand/channel choice?
• What role do loyalty and free-riding behavior play in omnichannel settings?
• Can shoppers be classified and profiled according to the intensity of their use of omnichannel practices?
• Do omnichannel shoppers contribute more than other shoppers to sales revenue?
• Who are omnichannel shoppers and what do they want?
• How can omnichannel management increase customer loyalty?
• How does the type of industry, company, or product influence omnichannel strategies?
• What is required to provide a seamless omnichannel customer experience?
• What kind of technology does the client expect in the different phases of the shopping journey?
• How can technology affect purchase intention? And purchase behavior?
• What is the effect of different marketing mix instruments (i.e., promotions) used across touchpoints and channels on channel performance?
• What is the trade-off between convenience and privacy?
• What role does social media play in the omnichannel environment?
• What role should personalization/customization of the omnichannel retail mix play?
• What sales techniques are most effective for use by salespeople in an omnichannel environment?
Using omnichannel strategies, companies and retailers can ensure coherent and consistent communication across the various channels and touchpoints customers may wish to employ to interact with these entities at any given time. Omnichannel management continues to be a big challenge for brands, because "omnishoppers" customers are more demanding and expect companies to provide them with a superior shopping experience.
Omnichannel is one of the most important retail revolutions of recent years, impacting in a variety of areas, such as marketing, e-commerce, strategy, and information systems, where consumer behavior and psychology take a central position.
Omnichannel retailing shows increasing agility and requires further research. Therefore, this special issue aims to advance the understanding of the omnichannel phenomenon in its various contexts and offers an opportunity to establish an integrative framework for the topic.
This research topic welcomes scientific papers that cover the following questions about shopper behavior in the omnichannel context (but are not limited to):
• Do specific touchpoints create preferences for and lead to the choice of specific retail channels?
• What are the interrelationships between a customer’s touchpoint choice and that same customer’s retail channel choice?
• How does the brand choice process differ by channel, and does the channel choice process differ by brand?
• What drives customers’ simultaneous choice of touchpoints and channels?
• What is the extent of forward-looking behavior in brand/channel choice?
• What is the role of social influence on brand/channel choice?
• What role do loyalty and free-riding behavior play in omnichannel settings?
• Can shoppers be classified and profiled according to the intensity of their use of omnichannel practices?
• Do omnichannel shoppers contribute more than other shoppers to sales revenue?
• Who are omnichannel shoppers and what do they want?
• How can omnichannel management increase customer loyalty?
• How does the type of industry, company, or product influence omnichannel strategies?
• What is required to provide a seamless omnichannel customer experience?
• What kind of technology does the client expect in the different phases of the shopping journey?
• How can technology affect purchase intention? And purchase behavior?
• What is the effect of different marketing mix instruments (i.e., promotions) used across touchpoints and channels on channel performance?
• What is the trade-off between convenience and privacy?
• What role does social media play in the omnichannel environment?
• What role should personalization/customization of the omnichannel retail mix play?
• What sales techniques are most effective for use by salespeople in an omnichannel environment?
Keywords: Omnichannel, Marketing, Customer Behavior, Shopping behavior, Retail
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
