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Engaging consumers in multichannel online retail environment


Purpose
With India becoming world’s second largest user of smartphones (Ming, 2017) and with more users adopting mobile devices for online shopping, Indian online retailers now have to manage mobile channel in addition to existing traditional channel (of computers). Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the mapping of product characteristics with individual channel capabilities and its effect on online consumer behaviour, so that e-tailers can create enhanced online shopping experience for consumers.


Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive research model is developed on the basis of the knowledge gained from multichannel retailing and e-commerce literature. Then, the model is empirically tested, with primary data collected from 344 customers, using structural equation modelling. The data are collected from customers across two product categories: electronics and fashion.


Findings
The results reveal that perceived usefulness, perceived risk and perceived self-efficacy are important drivers of online consumer behaviour for continued usage. The multi-group analysis confirms the moderation influence of platform type for some relationships across electronics and fashion.


Practical implications
The findings underline the importance of multichannel complementarity across electronics and fashion. The preference of mobile devices for fashion and traditional devices such as computers for electronics provides valuable insights for online retailers towards management of multichannel e-commerce ecosystem.


Originality/value
In Indian context, this is the first empirical research on online multichannel retail setting, studying the impact of diverse channel formats on different product categories. The study’s findings give empirical basis to online retailers to look out for right product–channel fit strategy for engaging consumers in the long run.
