Smart retailing is currently presented by many consultants and some researchers in innovation as the solution for generating an omnichannel experience that benefits customers and retailers alike. But does the type of in-store technology promote different forms of omnichannel experience? Are retailers able to control the omnichannel experience of their customers by acting on the experiential context of their stores? Based on 107 bibliographic references in marketing, innovation, and information systems, this synthesis highlights four forms of omnichannel experience, depending on whether they are triggered by the customer or controlled by the retailer and perceived as integrated in terms either of marketing or of technologies. When the retailer tries to exert too much control over the various forms of omnichannel experience, some of them cease to be truly omnichannel and are reduced to little more than a singlechannel (store or website) experience.

Purpose This paper compares empirically the nature, level and influence of perceived risks involved in a retailer’s website and stores, as multichannel shoppers will do when deciding which distribution channel to buy in. Design/methodology/approach The research design uses an online survey of 1,015 multichannel customers that was drawn from the behavioural databases of a French multichannel retailer. Findings Overall risk as well as risks associated with logistics, psychological and performance are higher and more dissuasive for an online purchase; however, financial, time and transaction risks tend predominantly or exclusively to discourage in-store purchasing. Customers’ familiarity with the channel seems to make them more vigilant. Research limitations/implications The concept of risk, and especially financial risk, is variable among researchers, making it more difficult to undertake comparative studies on e-commerce than on stores or products. Practical implications Retailers should not look merely to the salience of an isolated risk factor but rather should consider its actual impact on their customers’ final decision. Nonetheless, retailers will find it more difficult to reduce perceived risk on-line than in-store. Originality/value By focussing on a multichannel retailer’s website and stores and comparing the effects of six types of risk on the purchase attitudes of its multichannel shoppers, this study is distinct from most single-channel studies, which have examined risk inherent in Internet purchasing, handled risk on an experimental website and explored in-store risk. Moreover, the study focuses on the risks entailed by the purchase channel rather than those related to particular products or brands.

PurposeThis research studies what full channel integration means for customers, how channels should be combined so that this integration is perceived by customers and whether a retailer under study can act on the same channel attributes regardless of the type of customer.Design/methodology/approachThe research design uses an online survey of a full sample of 1,015 multichannel buyers, extracted from the behavioral databases of a French specialized retailer. This full sample is segmented into four sub-samples. The data are treated with backward multiple linear regressions.FindingsBased on research in marketing and psychology, this study conceptually demonstrates that integrated interactions perceived by consumers are the outcome of a judgment of congruence that seek to build relationships between them in order to combine them better. Testing three hypotheses, the empirical study shows that channel integration is a psychological process: cumulative (individuals incorporate the information provided by the different channels rather than comparing them), selective (customers never take into account all the attributes of the channels) and subjective (the channel image attributes taken into account differ in number and quality from one type of customer to another).Originality/valueContrary to what the literature assumes, without ever demonstrating it, full integration does not imply that the retailer in question homogenizes or even matches up all the attributes of its channels. The retailer is thus able to act on attributes that promote this integration, while being relatively free to cultivate the incongruence of other attributes more likely to smoothly guide customers to a particular channel – in other words, a path midway between cross-channel and omnichannel.

Résumé Il s’agit ici du résumé d’une recherche doctorale. Toute gestion multicanal exige une certaine coordination de la boutique en ligne et des points de vente. Or, les études empiriques concernant leur degré optimal d’interaction, sont rares. Après avoir précisé le concept de congruence perçue et défini un index de mesure commun à l’image du site et des magasins, cette recherche doctorale modélise le choix du canal d’achat de 1.478 clients réels d’un distributeur multicanal français. Elle montre qu’en général, les enseignes doivent tout à la fois maximiser l’image et la congruence des deux canaux. Elle met aussi en évidence une mutation du schéma cognitif des clients multicanaux.

International audienceThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether the image of a retailer - beyond the distinct contributions of the website and the stores - is improved by the perceived congruence of its channels, and for what types of customers. An online survey was conducted on 1,478 customers taken from the behavioural databases of a major French multichannel retailer. Structural modelling and one-way ANOVA were used to test the working hypotheses. Congruent channels improve retailer image even when these channels have a less good image. However, channel congruence cannot be elevated to a universal guiding principle as it only affects multichannel and online buyers, with no detrimental impact on retailer image. The study is mainly limited by the type of retailer studied, and the choice of an online questionnaire, limiting the representativeness of the offline purchasers. In order to improve its image, a multichannel retailer must seek maximum congruence of its website and stores. Congruent channels lead to benefits for the retailer even when they are poorly valued by consumers. Despite a broad theoretical consensus, this is the first study to demonstrate empirically that website and store congruence improves retailer image, and not only online purchase intentions. It is also one of the first published researches that uses congruence as a mediating variable