IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joinma/v43y2018icp116-133.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the Omnichannel Customer Journey: Determinants of Interaction Choice

Author

Listed:
  • Barwitz, Niklas
  • Maas, Peter

Abstract

Through the proliferation of channels and ways to engage in these channels, customers today have an unprecedented range of options to individualize their customer journey. This study investigated the underlying and overt reasons for customers' interaction choices using focus groups, expert interviews, and laddering interviews with motor insurance customers to make three central contributions. First, omnichannel customer journeys are inherently individualistic but driven by effects that apply to any single interaction, sequencing effects, and customer journey patterns. The latter pertain to sections of the journey that cover multiple interactions and include both research shopping and the novel impersonalization/interactivity reduction effects. Second, the analysis of customers' underlying reasons for interaction choices provides novel explanations for these effects and indicates why customers' search efforts regarding motor insurance are limited. Third, four types of value-in-use that customers seek in their interactions were found to be the ultimate underlying motives and are suggested to segment customers more effectively than the predominant efforts that rely on observable interaction behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Barwitz, Niklas & Maas, Peter, 2018. "Understanding the Omnichannel Customer Journey: Determinants of Interaction Choice," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 116-133.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:43:y:2018:i:c:p:116-133
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2018.02.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094996818300082
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intmar.2018.02.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Herhausen, Dennis & Binder, Jochen & Schoegel, Marcus & Herrmann, Andreas, 2015. "Integrating Bricks with Clicks: Retailer-Level and Channel-Level Outcomes of Online–Offline Channel Integration," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 309-325.
    2. Leonard Lee & Dan Ariely, 2006. "Shopping Goals, Goal Concreteness, and Conditional Promotions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(1), pages 60-70, June.
    3. Rapp, Adam & Baker, Thomas L. & Bachrach, Daniel G. & Ogilvie, Jessica & Beitelspacher, Lauren Skinner, 2015. "Perceived customer showrooming behavior and the effect on retail salesperson self-efficacy and performance," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 358-369.
    4. Kumar, V. & Pozza, Ilaria Dalla & Ganesh, Jaishankar, 2013. "Revisiting the Satisfaction–Loyalty Relationship: Empirical Generalizations and Directions for Future Research," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 246-262.
    5. Baxendale, Shane & Macdonald, Emma K. & Wilson, Hugh N., 2015. "The Impact of Different Touchpoints on Brand Consideration," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 235-253.
    6. Verhoef, Peter C. & Kannan, P.K. & Inman, J. Jeffrey, 2015. "From Multi-Channel Retailing to Omni-Channel Retailing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 174-181.
    7. Babin, Barry J & Darden, William R & Griffin, Mitch, 1994. "Work and/or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(4), pages 644-656, March.
    8. Arnould, Eric J & Price, Linda L, 1993. "River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(1), pages 24-45, June.
    9. Tversky, Amos & Kahneman, Daniel, 1992. "Advances in Prospect Theory: Cumulative Representation of Uncertainty," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 297-323, October.
    10. J. David Cummins & Neil A. Doherty, 2006. "The Economics of Insurance Intermediaries," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 73(3), pages 359-396, September.
    11. Fournier, Susan, 1998. "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 343-373, March.
    12. Dholakia, Utpal M. & Kahn, Barbara E. & Reeves, Randy & Rindfleisch, Aric & Stewart, David & Taylor, Earl, 2010. "Consumer Behavior in a Multichannel, Multimedia Retailing Environment," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 86-95.
    13. Melis, Kristina & Campo, Katia & Breugelmans, Els & Lamey, Lien, 2015. "The Impact of the Multi-channel Retail Mix on Online Store Choice: Does Online Experience Matter?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 272-288.
    14. Konuş, Umut & Neslin, Scott A. & Verhoef, Peter C., 2014. "The effect of search channel elimination on purchase incidence, order size and channel choice," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 49-64.
    15. Alba, Joseph W & Hutchinson, J Wesley, 1987. "Dimensions of Consumer Expertise," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(4), pages 411-454, March.
    16. Bilgicer, Tolga & Jedidi, Kamel & Lehmann, Donald R. & Neslin, Scott A., 2015. "Social Contagion and Customer Adoption of New Sales Channels," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 254-271.
    17. Srinivasan, Narasimhan & Ratchford, Brian T, 1991. "An Empirical Test of a Model of External Search for Automobiles," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 18(2), pages 233-242, September.
    18. Leeflang, Peter S.H. & Verhoef, Peter C. & Dahlström, Peter & Freundt, Tjark, 2014. "Challenges and solutions for marketing in a digital era," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-12.
    19. Gensler, Sonja & Neslin, Scott A. & Verhoef, Peter C., 2017. "The Showrooming Phenomenon: It's More than Just About Price," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 29-43.
    20. Moorthy, Sridhar & Ratchford, Brian T & Talukdar, Debabrata, 1997. "Consumer Information Search Revisited: Theory and Empirical Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 23(4), pages 263-277, March.
    21. Elisabeth Honka, 2014. "Quantifying search and switching costs in the US auto insurance industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(4), pages 847-884, December.
    22. Noble, Stephanie M. & Griffith, David A. & Weinberger, Marc G., 2005. "Consumer derived utilitarian value and channel utilization in a multi-channel retail context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 1643-1651, December.
    23. Konuş, Umut & Verhoef, Peter C. & Neslin, Scott A., 2008. "Multichannel Shopper Segments and Their Covariates," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 84(4), pages 398-413.
    24. De Keyser, Arne & Schepers, Jeroen & Konuş, Umut, 2015. "Multichannel customer segmentation: Does the after-sales channel matter? A replication and extension," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 453-456.
    25. Sonja Gensler & Peter Verhoef & Martin Böhm, 2012. "Understanding consumers’ multichannel choices across the different stages of the buying process," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 987-1003, December.
    26. Bolton, Ruth N & Drew, James H, 1991. "A Multistage Model of Customers' Assessments of Service Quality and Value," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(4), pages 375-384, March.
    27. Christian Homburg & Danijel Jozić & Christina Kuehnl, 2017. "Customer experience management: toward implementing an evolving marketing concept," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 377-401, May.
    28. Elisabeth Honka & Pradeep Chintagunta, 2017. "Simultaneous or Sequential? Search Strategies in the U.S. Auto Insurance Industry," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 21-42, January.
    29. Cao, Lanlan & Li, Li, 2015. "The Impact of Cross-Channel Integration on Retailers’ Sales Growth," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 198-216.
    30. Stephanie Watts Sussman & Lee Sproull, 1999. "Straight Talk: Delivering Bad News through Electronic Communication," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 150-166, June.
    31. Ganesh, Jaishankar & Reynolds, Kristy E. & Luckett, Michael & Pomirleanu, Nadia, 2010. "Online Shopper Motivations, and e-Store Attributes: An Examination of Online Patronage Behavior and Shopper Typologies," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 106-115.
    32. Kassarjian, Harold H, 1977. "Content Analysis in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 4(1), pages 8-18, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barwitz, Niklas, 2020. "The relevance of interaction choice: Customer preferences and willingness to pay," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    2. João M. Lopes & Ana Sousa & Eva Calçada & José Oliveira, 2022. "A citation and co-citation bibliometric analysis of omnichannel marketing research," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(4), pages 1017-1050, December.
    3. Flavián, Carlos & Gurrea, Raquel & Orús, Carlos, 2020. "Combining channels to make smart purchases: The role of webrooming and showrooming," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    4. Maier, Erik & Bornschein, Rico & Manss, Rico & Hesse, Damian, 2023. "Financial consequences of adding bricks to clicks," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 609-628.
    5. Tueanrat, Yanika & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2021. "A conceptual framework of the antecedents of customer journey satisfaction in omnichannel retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    6. Paula Rodríguez–Torrico & Sonia San–Martín & Rebeca San José Cabezudo, 2020. "Consumer behavior using multiple channels: a review," DOCFRADIS Working Papers 2002, Catedra Fundación Ramón Areces de Distribución Comercial, revised Jul 2020.
    7. Timoumi, Ahmed & Gangwar, Manish & Mantrala, Murali K., 2022. "Cross-channel effects of omnichannel retail marketing strategies: A review of extant data-driven research," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 133-151.
    8. Flavián, Carlos & Gurrea, Raquel & Orús, Carlos, 2019. "Feeling Confident and Smart with Webrooming: Understanding the Consumer's Path to Satisfaction," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-15.
    9. Ngoh, Cheryl-lyn & Groening, Christopher, 2022. "The effect of COVID-19 on consumers’ channel shopping behaviors: A segmentation study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Neslin, Scott A., 2022. "The omnichannel continuum: Integrating online and offline channels along the customer journey," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 111-132.
    11. Herhausen, Dennis & Kleinlercher, Kristina & Verhoef, Peter C. & Emrich, Oliver & Rudolph, Thomas, 2019. "Loyalty Formation for Different Customer Journey Segments," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 9-29.
    12. Reinartz, Werner & Wiegand, Nico & Imschloss, Monika, 2019. "The impact of digital transformation on the retailing value chain," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 350-366.
    13. Alice Mazzucchelli & Roberto Chierici & Francesca Ceruti & Laura Gavinelli, 2017. "Competing in an omnichannel environment. e-tailers strategies and challenges," ESPERIENZE D'IMPRESA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 5-28.
    14. Sands, Sean & Ferraro, Carla & Campbell, Colin & Pallant, Jason, 2016. "Segmenting multichannel consumers across search, purchase and after-sales," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 62-71.
    15. Vaishnav, Bharat & Ray, Sourav, 2023. "A thematic exploration of the evolution of research in multichannel marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    16. Cocco, Helen & Demoulin, Nathalie T.M., 2022. "Designing a seamless shopping journey through omnichannel retailer integration," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 461-475.
    17. Nakano, Satoshi & Kondo, Fumiyo N., 2018. "Customer segmentation with purchase channels and media touchpoints using single source panel data," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 142-152.
    18. Gensler, Sonja & Neslin, Scott A. & Verhoef, Peter C., 2017. "The Showrooming Phenomenon: It's More than Just About Price," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 29-43.
    19. Hu, Tun-I & Tracogna, Andrea, 2020. "Multichannel customer journeys and their determinants: Evidence from motor insurance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    20. von Briel, Frederik, 2018. "The future of omnichannel retail: A four-stage Delphi study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 217-229.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:43:y:2018:i:c:p:116-133. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-interactive-marketing/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.