Topic 2
Wagner, G., Schramm-Klein, H., & Steinmann, S. (2020). Online retailing across e-
channels and e-channel touchpoints: Empirical studies of consumer behavior in
the multichannel e-commerce environment. Journal of Business Research, 107,
256-270.
Understand and explain the difference between an E-channel and a touch point.
Understand and being able to interpret Figure 2 when presented with the figure.
E-channel: a category of Internet-enabled devices (e.g. mobile devices) that consumers can use to interact with
and purchase products from an online retailer.
- Represents hardware alternatives that consumers can use to shop online.
E-channel touchpoint: a specific digital shopping format (e.g. mobile shopping app) that a retailer employs to
provide consumers with an online shopping opportunity.
- Represents software alternatives that retailers can provide for e-channels.
- Characterized by its online shopping capability.
Retailers might offer, and consumers might utilize, multiple online retailing touchpoints (e.g. a shopping app, a
mobile website, or both) of an e-channel (e.g., a mobile device).
The 12 devices constitute (form) four clusters on the perceptual map:
A. Encompasses 3 devices: PCs, laptops, and netbooks.
Primary means of online shopping → “traditional e-channel”
Frequently used to shop online through a web browser + quite similar in handling (i.e.
keyboard and mouse controls).
B. Includes smartphones and tablet computers (both hand-held technologies).
Compact and portable → “mobile e-channel”
C. 3 Internet-enabled TV (IETV) formats.
“IETV e-channel”
D. Less homogeneous, includes e-readers, in-store kiosks, portable media players and
cellphones.
Rarely used for online shopping, but complement other e-channels →
“complementary e-channel”
Bunching of arrows indicates that consumers evaluate all WebQual Characteristics (except no. 6:
“availability”) in the same manner.
, Direction vector arrows = right to left → dimension 1: perceived overall quality of online
shopping.
Traditional e-channel + mobile e-channel → perform adequate.
IETV e-channel + complementary e-channel → perform much worse.
Mobile e-channel indicates its advantages with respect to the direction of the
“availability” arrow. Usefulness of mobile devices is a result of their availability and
enables consumers to shop anywhere and anytime.
Results of property fitting with Situational Characteristics demonstrate that in addition to the
evaluation of quality characteristics, other factors affect consumers' perceptions of online shopping
devices.
Dimension 2: situational benefit of an e-channel.
Situational variables help to explain why consumers switch to an e-channel with lower perceived
online shopping quality.
Mobile e-channel → relevant for online shopping when being away from home (physical
setting: 14 and 15).
Mobile e-channel → relevant for online shopping when time is critical or would
otherwise go unused (temporal perspective: 20 and 21).
Traditional e-channel → preferred option when online shopping or when online
information is accessed (task definition: 23 and 24) at home (physical setting: 16).
IETV e-channel + complementary e-channel categories → less appropriate for online
shopping because of their qualitative attributes. But: both perceived as alternative online
shopping formats that are relevant in specific situations.
Complementary e-channel → devices offer complementary benefit of online
shopping opportunities in specific temporal (temporal perspective: 21) and local
(physical setting: 14) situations.
Consumers' evaluations of online shopping vary across the four e-channel categories.
- Respondents evaluated the traditional e-channel most positively with respect to WebQual attributes,
with the exception of “availability” and “innovation,” which show the highest scores for mobile
devices (cluster B).
- A closer examination of the evaluation of situational characteristics indicates that the situational
context strongly influences actual utilization, which stimulates the use of the mobile e-channel in
particular.
Wagner, G., Schramm-Klein, H., & Steinmann, S. (2020). Online retailing across e-
channels and e-channel touchpoints: Empirical studies of consumer behavior in
the multichannel e-commerce environment. Journal of Business Research, 107,
256-270.
Understand and explain the difference between an E-channel and a touch point.
Understand and being able to interpret Figure 2 when presented with the figure.
E-channel: a category of Internet-enabled devices (e.g. mobile devices) that consumers can use to interact with
and purchase products from an online retailer.
- Represents hardware alternatives that consumers can use to shop online.
E-channel touchpoint: a specific digital shopping format (e.g. mobile shopping app) that a retailer employs to
provide consumers with an online shopping opportunity.
- Represents software alternatives that retailers can provide for e-channels.
- Characterized by its online shopping capability.
Retailers might offer, and consumers might utilize, multiple online retailing touchpoints (e.g. a shopping app, a
mobile website, or both) of an e-channel (e.g., a mobile device).
The 12 devices constitute (form) four clusters on the perceptual map:
A. Encompasses 3 devices: PCs, laptops, and netbooks.
Primary means of online shopping → “traditional e-channel”
Frequently used to shop online through a web browser + quite similar in handling (i.e.
keyboard and mouse controls).
B. Includes smartphones and tablet computers (both hand-held technologies).
Compact and portable → “mobile e-channel”
C. 3 Internet-enabled TV (IETV) formats.
“IETV e-channel”
D. Less homogeneous, includes e-readers, in-store kiosks, portable media players and
cellphones.
Rarely used for online shopping, but complement other e-channels →
“complementary e-channel”
Bunching of arrows indicates that consumers evaluate all WebQual Characteristics (except no. 6:
“availability”) in the same manner.
, Direction vector arrows = right to left → dimension 1: perceived overall quality of online
shopping.
Traditional e-channel + mobile e-channel → perform adequate.
IETV e-channel + complementary e-channel → perform much worse.
Mobile e-channel indicates its advantages with respect to the direction of the
“availability” arrow. Usefulness of mobile devices is a result of their availability and
enables consumers to shop anywhere and anytime.
Results of property fitting with Situational Characteristics demonstrate that in addition to the
evaluation of quality characteristics, other factors affect consumers' perceptions of online shopping
devices.
Dimension 2: situational benefit of an e-channel.
Situational variables help to explain why consumers switch to an e-channel with lower perceived
online shopping quality.
Mobile e-channel → relevant for online shopping when being away from home (physical
setting: 14 and 15).
Mobile e-channel → relevant for online shopping when time is critical or would
otherwise go unused (temporal perspective: 20 and 21).
Traditional e-channel → preferred option when online shopping or when online
information is accessed (task definition: 23 and 24) at home (physical setting: 16).
IETV e-channel + complementary e-channel categories → less appropriate for online
shopping because of their qualitative attributes. But: both perceived as alternative online
shopping formats that are relevant in specific situations.
Complementary e-channel → devices offer complementary benefit of online
shopping opportunities in specific temporal (temporal perspective: 21) and local
(physical setting: 14) situations.
Consumers' evaluations of online shopping vary across the four e-channel categories.
- Respondents evaluated the traditional e-channel most positively with respect to WebQual attributes,
with the exception of “availability” and “innovation,” which show the highest scores for mobile
devices (cluster B).
- A closer examination of the evaluation of situational characteristics indicates that the situational
context strongly influences actual utilization, which stimulates the use of the mobile e-channel in
particular.
