Journal of Retailing Special Issue
Multi-Channel Retailing and Customer Touch Points

Special Issue Editors:

• Peter C. Verhoef, University of Groningen
• P.K. Kannan, University of Maryland
• Jeff Inman, University of Pittsburgh

Final Submission Deadline for Papers: October 1, 2013

The retail landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade. The growth and importance of the online channel has created new business models, different shopping patterns, varied customer experiences, and has impacted customer decision making in significant ways. New digital channels and customer touch points, such as social media and mobile devices, continue to have a strong impact on retailers, brand manufacturers, service providers, customers and society in general. In this special issue of the Journal of Retailing, our aim is to publish state-of-the art research providing clear insights into these channels and touch point developments. These developments call for a broad research focus in which issues of traditional channels as well as new digital channels and customer touch points are viewed from a multi-channel retailing perspective. The topics may relate to retailers’ channel and marketing mix strategies, brand manufacturers’ channel strategies, shopping behavior and consumer decision-making in multi-channel environments, and societal consequences of multi-channel strategies. Research questions of specific interest for this special issue include the following (but not limited to):

• When and how does adding a new channel create firm value?
• How do business models change due to new channels in different competitive landscapes?
• What is the optimal number of channels a firm should use?
• How can brand manufacturers use (new) channels to create more brand equity?
• Can brand manufacturers use direct channels to improve the power balance with retailers?
• How can firms influence the buying process of customers through multiple channels?
• What are the effects of different marketing mix instruments in the sales funnel across different channels?
• What is the effect of multi-channel usage on customer equity?
• How should the marketing mix be integrated over multiple channels?
• How does the use of multiple channels affect customer experiences?
• Which are the factors that drive research shopping? And how can research shopping be managed?
• How do customers use new channels, such as mobile devices, in the buying process?
• Does the use of new channels change customer decision making?
• Do shoppers become smarter shoppers when using new channels? Does it improve their decision making?
• How do consumers handle the complexity of the increased number of channels?
• Does the use of multiple channels improve consumer welfare?
• How can firms attribute credit for sales arising in multi-channel environment to the different channels?
• How can retailers optimize their marketing investments across multiple channels?

Papers must conform to the JR specifications and will be subjected to the standard review process. The special issue editors will oversee the process.

See

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620186/authorinstructions

for submission guidelines.

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