Customer Experience Management in the Digital Marketing Era: An Omnichannel Retailing Strategy

Introduction

The acceleration of technological developments and especially the advances in digitalization trends allow diversification of the channels where consumers can interact with retailers. Consumers obtain information about products or services, communicate with sellers, and perform purchasing behaviors using multiple channels such as the internet, mobile devices, social media, and physical stores. Consumers follow brands on social media, research on the internet before going to a physical store, use their mobile phones to search for their shopping while in a store, or buy products online at cheaper prices after they examine and try them in stores through showrooming (Hansen & Sia, 2015, p. 51). Therefore, retailers need to provide customers with the opportunity to research, buy, communicate, and interact with the brand by obtaining a perfect customer experience from the website, physical store, mobile application, social media, and communication channels (Palmatier et al., 2020, p. 345). Omnichannel management is the synergetic management of all channels and touchpoints that interact with the customer in a way that optimizes customer experience and performance (Verhoef et al., 2015, p. 276). Customer touchpoint refers to any situation where a customer interacts with a product or brand, from physical trial to mass media communication, mobile app notification to in-store observation (Kotler & Keller, 2016, p. 168). Each touchpoint can be associated with a specific channel, for example, customer reviews can be linked to the website or blog of the company. However, a channel should not characteristically be associated with a specific customer touchpoint. Thus, the website of the company is seen as a channel where the consumer can leave comments, as well as buy products (Rooderkerk & Kok, 2019, p. 52).

Single channel management refers to the situation where a retailer sells through only one channel, for example, in the beginning, Walmart only reached customers through its physical stores and Amazon through its website (Jasin et al., 2019, p. 16). In multichannel management, retailers offer information, products, services, and support to their existing and potential customers through two or more channels (Rangaswamy & Van Bruggen, 2005, p. 6). For example, Walmart initially fulfilled its online orders through a warehouse separate from the store channel (Jasin et al., 2019, p. 17). Therefore, in multichannel management, there is a coexistence of several channels that are considered separate and competitive (Shen et al., 2018, p. 62). Cross channel management is defined as the integration of more than one channel to ensure inter-channel movements of customers and create synergy (Picot-Coupey et al., 2016, p. 342). This allows consumers to take advantage of the different benefits of each channel along the customer journey, such as searching for product information online or receiving an online purchase instantly from the store. Moreover, they avoid the inherent costs of each channel, such as the cost of effort to gather information for evaluation or the shipping costs required to receive an online order (Chatterjee, 2010b, p. 11). In omnichannel management, there is a seamless flow of customers, information, and inventory between multiple channels throughout the consumer’s shopping experience (Jasin et al., 2019, p. 17). This system offers consumers a consistent, uniform, and integrated service and experience regardless of the channel they use. It also allows consumers to move seamlessly between channels depending on their preferences, current situations, or product category (Juaneda-Ayensa et al., 2016, p. 3). Thus, a unified view of the brand can be created in terms of a product purchase, return, and exchange transactions via the traditional store, online website, mobile application, call center, or social media (Shi et al., 2020, p. 325). This retail model refers to the management of multiple channels owned by the retailer as intertwined touchpoints that allow consumers to have a seamless experience within a brand ecosystem (Picot-Coupey et al., 2016, p. 342).