No abstract

The emergence of Internet has changed consumer shopping behaviors and purchasing habits, shaking up the landscape of retailing worldwide. Consumers are now combining the different available channels so that they use the channels that better suit their needs at any given time in order to enhance their shopping behaviors. Chapter three presents the literature review of the variables influencing consumer behavior in multi-channel retailing, from a value-based approach. A big difference with existing research is the holistic characterization of perceived value, including both costs and benefits, as well as utilitarian and hedonic views. The final proposal consists of five different categories, adapted to multi-channel contexts: perceived quality, monetary costs, non-monetary costs, hedonic aspects of shopping and brand knowledge. As a result of the literature review the study sets the different groups of variables included in the predictive model. This chapter also presents the concept of spillover effect, which is characteristic of multi-channel retailing and complements the valuebased view to better explain shoppers' channel preferences. Chapter four provides an overview of the product under study in this research: clothing and apparel. From a characterization of the product that includes objective and subjective attributes, the investigation examines the different characteristics of this product that make it especially relevant in the study of channel preferences. Based on the research model presented in chapters two thorough four, Chapter 5 details the research design. The research is defined as an exploratory empirical study conducted in a nonexperimental setting. This chapter details the operationalization of the different variables of the model. The research uses quantitative data collected through an online questionnaire answered by a representative sample of Spanish consumers, which is presented in detail. Chapter six describes the data analysis. The data analysis comprises two main blocks: a comparison of results between offline and online shoppers, and the application of statistical analysis to contrast the research hypotheses and validate the predictive model proposed in this study. The final chapter, Chapter 8, summarizes the main conclusions deriving from the data analysis. The chapter offers an objective assessment of the degree of achievement of the research objectives, and discusses the main theoretical, methodological and practical contributions and implications of the doctoral research. The chapter also offers an in-depth examination of specific conclusions of the research for each variable included in the model. Finally, the document addresses the main limitations of the study and outlines future avenues of research in multichannel retailing.