Omni-Channel Retailing and Perceived Service Quality

Abstract

The consumers´ purchasing behaviour has changed tremendously with the development of multichannel retailing. Consumers nowadays tend to switch retail channels during their purchasing process. In this context, the term ‘omni-channel retailing' can be considered as the most advanced stage of a multichannel-retailing system, implying full customer interaction and retailer integration. In order to address changing consumer behaviour, multichannel retailing companies still need to learn how to be able to provide a seamless interaction with customers through multiple channels. In this context, the evaluation and understanding of service quality in multichannel retailing companies has developed and has become a topic of major interest for both academics and practitioners. The purpose of this chapter is to provide some insights about the concept of multichannel integration considering the different elements of the retail-mix.