Internet Research

Consumer choice of multichannel shopping: The effects of relationship investment

and online store preference
Jyh-Shen Chiou Szu-Yu Chou George Chung-Chi Shen
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Jyh-Shen Chiou Szu-Yu Chou George Chung-Chi Shen , (2017)," Consumer choice of multichannel
shopping The effects of relationship investment and online store preference ", Internet Research, Vol.
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INTR
27,1
2 and online store preference
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Internet Research
Vol. 27 No. 1, 2017
pp. 2-20
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1066-2243
DOI 10.1108/IntR-08-2013-0173
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1066-2243.htm
Consumer choice of
multichannel shopping
The effects of relationship investment
Jyh-Shen Chiou
Department of International Business,
National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, and
Szu-Yu Chou and George Chung-Chi Shen
Department of Marketing and Tourism Management,
National Chiayi University, Chiayi City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – Consumers display complex shopping behaviors in the multichannel environment, which includes
traditional retail stores and the internet. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the customer-
sales associate relationship, customers’ receptiveness to online store shopping, and their interaction effects on
the customer’s attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior when the firm decides to establish an online
store as the online channel. The authors also examine how customers’ multichannel shopping behavior affects
their future spending intentions.
Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected by soliciting 231 customers who purchased
cosmetics in department stores within the past three months. Subjects were asked to give their overall
evaluation of their offline and online shopping experiences in the last three months.
Findings – Results show that the customer-sales associate relationship significantly reduces customers’
attitude toward searching offline but purchasing online. Receptiveness to online store shopping has
significant effects on customers’ attitude toward multichannel shopping behaviors regardless of whether they
search or purchase via the online channel. The customer-sales associate relationship also moderates the
relationship between customers’ receptiveness to online store shopping and multichannel shopping
behaviors. Finally, unlike other types of online and offline multichannel shoppers who display higher future
spending intentions when the physical store decides to open an online store, those who prefer physical stores
for both information searching and product purchasing display lower spending intentions.
Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to use customer-sales
associate relationships to investigate consumers’ attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior. The
findings provide meaningful implications for service providers that use sales associates to increase
consumers’ value via face-to-face service, but find it challenging to go online.
Keywords Customer-sales associate relationship, Multichannel customer management,
Multichannel shopping attitude, Receptiveness to online store shopping
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Consumers display cross-shopping behaviors in the multichannel environment, which
includes traditional retail stores and the internet (Alba et al., 1997). Although some
consumers tend to use a sole channel to perform all shopping activities, more and
more consumers are employing different channels in different shopping stages.
For example, consumers may search for product information or try a product at an
offline store and then purchase the product via an online store. Consumers utilize multiple
channels because different channels have distinct value that can satisfy their shopping
needs at different shopping stages (Konus et al., 2008). For this reason, firms are striving to
This study was funded by the National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC – 96-2628-H-004-001-MY3).
 have their marketing channel cover both online and offline services to fulfill their customers’ Consumer
needs (Rangaswamy and van Bruggen, 2005). choice of
Despite an increasing focus on the online channel, today’s consumers tend to use both multichannel
online and offline channels interchangeably to search and procure products. These
multichannel shopping behaviors may create both opportunities and threats for a company. shopping
Regarding opportunities, the presence of multiple channels increases the possibility that a
company can reach, contact, and serve its consumers efficiently (Alba et al., 1997; Rangaswamy 3
and van Bruggen, 2005). However, cannibalization between online and offline stores arises as
the multichannel strategy is deployed (Biyalogorsky and Naik, 2003; Sharma et al., 2010; Wu
et al., 2004). Even though both physical and online stores are operated by the same firm,
consumers may expect a lower price if they buy online, especially when customers enjoy the
service provided by the sales associates in the physical store but purchase the product in an
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online store (Rangaswamy and van Bruggen, 2005; Chiou et al., 2012). That is,
the sales associates who provide services in the physical store are not rewarded with the
final sale (Wu et al., 2004). One reason why many physical stores hesitate to open an online
store is the potential for channel conflicts (Neslin and Shankar, 2009; Stone et al., 2002).
To obtain the benefits of opening an online store while reducing its negative impacts, a
firm needs to make sure that its physical stores possess certain kinds of competitive
advantage for certain groups of customers. The company must manage the cross-channel
cannibalization issues in the multichannel system to gain full support from the employees of
its physical stores when it decides to establish an online store. Among these issues, the
bonding relationship between sales associates and customers offers a competitive
advantage for a physical retailer to sustain its market position (McKenna, 1991; Reichheld,
1992; Vavra, 1992). Understanding how the customer-sales associate relationship can affect
customers’ multichannel shopping behavior may help firms plan and execute their
multichannel strategy more effectively.
Furthermore, although multichannel customers consume more products/services than
single-channel customers (e.g. Ansari et al., 2008; Kumar and Venkatesan, 2005; Kushwaha
and Shankar, 2007), customer loyalty is another issue that multichannel companies should
consider (Neslin and Shankar, 2009). Research has shown that internet technology decreases
customers’ switching cost and thus decreases their loyalty (Pikkarainen et al., 2004; Shen and
Chiou, 2010). The effect of the customer-sales associate relationship on securing a consumer’s
loyalty may be lessened if the consumer can easily switch from an offline store to an online
store. The effect could be negative if the multichannel provides customers with greater
convenience without increasing the firm’s share of customers’ wallets. More research is needed
to explore this discrepancy. Moreover, Kushwaha and Shankar (2007) stated that individuals’
differences may affect their preference in choosing channels. Consumers who use an online
channel may not be so inclined only because the channel itself possesses certain value to them;
the consumer’s individual preference may also lead the choice. Therefore, this study explores
how the interaction between the customer-sales associate and consumers’ attitudes toward
multichannel shopping is moderated by consumers’ attitudes toward online store shopping.
Our results demonstrate that the customer-sales associate relationship plays an
important role in influencing individuals’ attitudes toward engaging in multichannel
shopping patterns, especially those that could hurt sales associates (i.e. searching
information offline from sales associates and buying online or adopting exclusively the
online channel for these activities, therefore bypassing sales associates altogether).
The customer-sales associate relationship is an asset for customers with low receptiveness
to online store shopping; thus, to obtain more sales, companies can capture consumers who
are keen to shop online with the new online store, while keeping the business of consumers
who are not so interested in online shopping but value the sales associates in the offline
store. This study will also show that it is only when individuals’ online store shopping
 INTR attitude is low that sales associates’ good relationship with them plays a role in undermining
27,1 their attitudes toward engaging in multichannel shopping patterns; the opposite is true
when consumers have high receptiveness to online store shopping. Finally, we will
demonstrate that the total spending intention of those who prefer to stay with physical
stores will not increase when their favorite retail stores decide to open an online store. The
results provide insights into the challenges of a multichannel merchant.
4 In sum, the major purposes of this study are to examine the effects of the customer-sales
associate relationship and receptiveness to online store shopping on consumers’ attitudes
toward multichannel shopping behavior, to explore the interactive effect between the
customer-sales associate relationship and receptiveness to online store shopping on
consumers’ attitudes toward multichannel shopping behavior, and to investigate how
customers’ different attitudes toward multichannel shopping behavior affect their future
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spending intentions when a company decides to establish an online store.

2. Theory and hypotheses

2.1 Multichannel shopping behavior
Technological advancements have increased the options that companies can employ to
communicate and deliver marketing offerings to customers. In addition to the traditional
physical store, firms can also serve their customers through virtual or remote technology
(e.g. internet, mobile phone, kiosk). With the advances in channel innovation, consumers
have become multichannel shoppers because they can enjoy the different advantages of
online and offline channels. Multichannel shoppers are defined as customers who use more
than one channel for a shopping task regardless of being in the information-seeking stage or
the product-procurement stage (Kumar and Venkatesan, 2005).
Levin et al. (2003) showed that consumers believe it is quicker to shop online than it is to
visit a physical retailer and they have access to more products with a greater range of
features online. In addition, online shopping is associated with perceptions of a better price
(Brynjolfsson and Smith, 2000). In contrast, offline shopping is rated higher for shopping
experiences, ability to see-touch-handle the product, personal service, no-hassle exchange,
and speedy delivery.
On the basis of the above perspectives, many customers perceive different values among the
different channels. To obtain the utmost utility from the shopping process, many consumers
will take advantage of different channels at different purchasing stages (Burke, 2002; Louvieris
et al., 2003; Van Baal and Dach, 2005). Schroeder and Zaharia (2008) demonstrated that
customers spread the “information” and “purchase” stages over the channels of a multichannel
retailer according to different shopping motives. Take the banking industry, for example,
customers may conduct transactions for mutual funds and stocks online but prefer to obtain a
home mortgage through a representative. In different circumstances, multichannel customers
can go from online to offline or from offline to online. On the basis of Van Baal and Dach’s
(2005) investigation, 20.4 percent of offline purchases took place after the customer had
consulted information on the internet and 24.6 percent of online purchases took place after the
consumer had consulted offline channels.
Following Verhoef et al. (2007), this study broadly divides consumer shopping into two
stages: information search and product purchase. When a physical retailer decides to
establish its own online store, its customers can use four types of channel shopping behavior
in its multichannel stores, as described below:
(1) customers use the retail store to search information but the online store to make
purchases (Store→Online);
(2) customers use the online store to search information but the retail store to make
purchases (Online→Store);
 (3) customers use the retail stores to search information and make purchases Consumer
(Store→Store); and choice of
(4) customers use the online store to search information and make purchases multichannel
(Online→Online). shopping
The first two types of shopping behavior are multichannel shopping behavior, whereas the
last two are single-channel shopping behavior.
5
2.2 Customer-sales associate relationship and attitude toward multichannel shopping
Relationship marketing refers to the relationship that customers have built with the brand,
stores, or individual sales associates; among these relationships, the customer-sales associate
relationship is considered among the most important factors for retailers to gain business
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through one-on-one selling (Beatty et al., 1996). Past research has confirmed that the personal
relationship affects the consumer’s perception of product or service quality (Beatty et al., 1996;
Bitner et al., 1990). The customer-employee interaction is crucial in the consumer’s decision
when the service process requires interpersonal interaction to increase the consumer’s
perceived value (File et al., 1993; Gwinner et al., 1998). These personal relationships include
personal recognition, friendship, rapport, and personal support (Barnes, 1994; Berry, 1995).
Advances in internet technology and logistics systems make it easier for consumers to
collect and compare product information online (e.g. through fellow consumers’ reviews) and
receive their order in an acceptable time frame. However, the customer-sales associate
relationship cannot be replaced by an online store. Many customers develop personal
relationships with a particular service provider (Barnes, 1994; Berry, 1995; Czepiel, 1990).
These customers depend on particular sales associates in a store for their purchasing
decisions. Therefore, it follows that if customers establish strong service relationships with
sales associates, they will have a more positive attitude toward using the physical store
channel in both searching information and making purchases and, more importantly, they
will be less likely to use the physical store just for information searching and then turn to the
online store for the final purchase:
H1a. The more personal relationships customers have with sales associates, the higher
the attitude toward using the physical store to both search information and make
purchases (Store→Store).
H1b. The more personal relationships customers have with sales associates, the lower
the attitude toward using the physical store to search information and then turning
to online stores to purchase (Store→Online).

2.3 Receptiveness to online store shopping and multichannel shopping behavior

Information-seeking behavior refers to a consumer’s evaluation of the trade-off between the
cost and benefit of searching and evaluating alternatives when making a shopping decision
(Hauser and Wernerfelt, 1990). Internet technology has the potential to decrease the cost of
searching and evaluating alternatives and increase the quality of decisions (Haubl and
Trifts, 2000). Therefore, many traditional physical retailers complement their store offerings
with online channels to improve their operational efficiency and to enhance the benefits
provided to customers (Zhang et al., 2010).
Levin et al. (2003) showed that consumers believe shopping online is quicker and offers a
greater range of available items than shopping at physical stores. In addition, consumers
associate online shopping with better bargains because online stores have lower overhead
(Brynjolfsson and Smith, 2000). In contrast, physical stores are thought to provide the
advantage of experiential value, in which consumers can see-touch-handle the product, receive
personal service, and engage in face-to-face communication to increase consumers’ trust.
 INTR Past research has also found that a greater degree of trust is required for a consumer to shop
27,1 online vs a physical shop, especially when the quality of the product or seller cannot be
assessed online (Keen et al., 1999). Given that online shopping offers both positives and
negatives, a consumer’s belief about a behavioral object becomes the key factor affecting his
or her attitude toward performing the behavior (Pikkarainen et al., 2004).
If customers are receptive to online store shopping, they are more likely to employ online
6 channels for product search and product procurement (Zeng and Reinartz, 2003) because of
their belief in or ability to accomplish online shopping (Ajzen, 1991). Hence, consumers who
are familiar with the company’s product and have trust in the firm may search and purchase
the product solely through the company’s internet store (Online→Online).
However, customers with a positive attitude toward online shopping may not totally
abandon the physical store immediately when the company opens its online store. It is more
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likely that these consumers will use the online store and physical store interchangeably.
For instance, customers may explore, touch, and feel the product in the physical store to
make sure that the product is acceptable and then place their order in the internet store
(Store→Online). If consumers do not totally trust the transaction safety or convenience of
online shopping, they may search product information in the internet store but buy the
product in a physical store (Online→Store).
In contrast, customers who believe that online shopping is inefficient, unsafe, or difficult
may display a lower online shopping attitude and rely on traditional channels such as
physical stores for shopping (Bendoly et al., 2005; Zeng and Reinartz, 2003). In any case,
customers who have lower receptiveness to online store shopping are expected to have a
higher attitude toward using the physical store for both information search and product
purchase (Store→Store). Thus:
H2a. The higher the customer’s receptiveness to online store shopping, the higher the
customer’s attitude toward using the online store for both information searching
and product purchasing (Online→Online).
H2b. The higher the customer’s receptiveness to online store shopping, the higher the
customer’s attitude toward using the online store for information searching but
purchasing the product in a physical store (Online→Store).
H2c. The higher the customer’s receptiveness to online store shopping, the higher the
customer’s attitude toward using the physical store for information searching but
purchasing in the online store (Store→Online).
H2d. The higher the customer’s receptiveness to online store shopping, the lower the
attitude toward using the physical store for both information searching and
product purchasing (Store→Store).

2.4 Interaction between receptiveness to online store shopping and the customer-sales
associate relationship
A personal relationship with sales associates is an important key to obtaining consumer
loyalty. However, this impact might be attenuated for consumers who experience pressure in
their physical store shopping experience (Kau et al., 2003). For example, consumers may be
embarrassed if they leave the store without purchasing, especially when they have consulted
the sales associate during the shopping process. In the online shopping environment,
consumers can search information and purchase products at their own pace and do not need
to care about the social pressure resulting from their acquaintance with a sales associate.
It is presumed that the effect of the customer-sales associate relationship on attitudes
toward multichannel shopping behavior varies with the individual’s receptiveness to online
 store shopping. A consumer’s receptiveness to online store shopping might reflect the Consumer
individual’s tendency or ability to perform online procurement (Martínez-López et al., 2005). choice of
Therefore, customers with high receptiveness to online store shopping are more likely to multichannel
purchase online without the social pressure associated with the physical store (Pikkarainen
et al., 2004). Customers may search for product information in the physical store or online shopping
and then purchase the desired products via an online channel to gain flexibility in product
procurement (Berman and Thelen, 2004), particularly when retail stores offer customers 7
incentives to increase their receptiveness to online store shopping.
In contrast, customers with lower receptiveness to online store shopping might have a
lower tendency to utilize an online shopping channel for searching or purchasing, and this
relationship is attenuated when customers have relationships with sales associates. Thus,
we propose that:
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H3a. Customers’ high (low) receptiveness to online store shopping positively (negatively)
moderates the effect of the customer-sales associate relationship on customers’
attitude toward searching information in the physical store and purchasing the
product online (Store→Online).
H3b. Customers’ high (low) receptiveness to online store shopping positively (negatively)
moderates the effect of the customer-sales associate relationship on customers’
attitude toward using online stores for both searching information and purchasing
the product (Online→Online).

2.5 The effects of multichannel shopping behavior on future spending intentions

Having a multichannel does not always present threats among the channels (Dholakia et al.,
2005). A multichannel strategy provides firms with more opportunities to contact customers
to gain more sales than a single-channel strategy (Ansari et al., 2008; Kumar and
Venkatesan, 2005; Kushwaha and Shankar, 2005; Thomas and Sullivan, 2005). Consumers
may search or spend more online because the multichannel might provide the desired value,
such as product variety or convenience, to meet consumers’ needs (Ansari et al., 2005;
Kumar and Venkatesan, 2005). By providing a greater array of benefits through the
multichannel, retailers can increase their share of customers’ wallets (Zhang et al., 2010).
Thus, customers’ receptiveness to online store shopping might be the key to determining
their tendency to use online and offline store channels interchangeably, which might
contribute to the total sales of a company deploying a multichannel.
Since online stores of many traditional retailers still lack some features that exist in
physical stores (Schoenbachler and Gordon, 2002), consumers with high receptiveness
toward online store shopping regardless of search or purchase might increase their
consumption in an online store opened by a focal brand. Consumers inclined to search and
purchase in the offline store might overlook the benefits of the online store and are less
likely to spend on the focal brand’s online channel. Therefore, we propose:
H4a. Attitude toward using online stores for both information searching and product
purchasing is positively related to future spending intention.
H4b. Attitude toward using online stores for information searching and purchasing the
product in a physical store is positively related to future spending intention.
H4c. Attitude toward using physical stores for information searching and purchasing
the product in an online store is positively related to future spending intention.
H4d. Attitude toward using physical stores for both information searching and product
purchasing is negatively related to future spending intention.
 INTR 3. Method
27,1 3.1 Research design
The focal objective of this study is to explore customers’ multichannel shopping behavior
when a company extends its business from physical stores into online channels. We, therefore,
choose a study object, premium cosmetics, that is typically sold by sales associates in a
physical store. This product market is a high-involvement market that requires personal
8 service in the physical retailer (Chiou and Droge, 2006; Ellison and Fowler, 2004; Shen and
Chiou, 2010). Specifically, premium cosmetics are typically sold by highly trained beauty sales
associates at dedicated counters in high-end department stores. These jobs have educational,
experiential, and relational aspects. Many interactive relationships develop between
consumers and sales associates. In addition, the premium cosmetics brands in the studied
country currently have no online stores in the market. In this market, all premium cosmetics
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brands sell their products via upscale department stores. Therefore, they could answer
questions on the same basis when we asked about online store extension in the future. On the
basis of these considerations, the chosen product market is suitable for testing the research
hypotheses in this study.

3.2 Sample and data collection

To examine the hypotheses, respondents were randomly drawn from customers in a major
shopping district in Taipei, Taiwan, which is seen as a market pioneer in the great Chinese
market. The Taiwanese business model is impressive and many foreign companies choose
an entry mode for the China market by forming joint ventures with Taiwanese companies
(e.g. Want China Times, 2011). Initially, three major shopping districts located in different
areas in Taipei were randomly selected as primary sites for the current study. In all, 100
questionnaires were distributed in each site over a one-week period. Data were collected by
trained personnel on different days of the week as well as at uniformly distributed time
intervals to assure a high degree of representation of the population in the sample and to
minimize day- and time-related response bias. Customers were randomly approached,
mostly in the vicinities of the selected locations, and asked to complete the questionnaire.
Trained interviewers asked respondents one screening question before respondents filled
out the formal questionnaire: Have you ever consumed premium cosmetics in any
department store in the past three months? If the answer was yes, the respondents were
asked to complete the formal questionnaire based on their favorite premium cosmetics
brand. The respondents were informed that their favorite cosmetics brand was planning to
launch an internet store in the near future. The product assortment and price level of the
online store would be similar to those in the brand’s physical retail stores.
In all, 250 questionnaires were collected, for a response rate of around 45 percent, and
19 questionnaires were deemed invalid because the respondent did not complete all items.
Therefore, 231 questionnaires were deemed useful. Most respondents were between the ages
of 20 and 30 (72.9 percent) and female (96 percent). This sampling profile is consistent with
the industrial database provided by EICP (2011). The study found that customers who
frequently purchase cosmetics in department stores are 20- to 34-year-old women.
To answer the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to choose a cosmetics brand they
had used most often in the last three months. Most respondents chose Shiseido (15 percent).
Table I outlines the sample’s demographics by gender, age, education, online shopping
experience, frequency of individual access to the internet in the last 12 months, and duration
of internet usage each time. We found that most respondents (87.8 percent) had online
shopping experience and 79.7 percent had access to the internet at least once a day in the
last 12 months.
Measures. Attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior. Respondents evaluated the
four types of cross-channel shopping behavior in the case of their favorite premium
 Percentage Percentage
Consumer
choice of
Gender Age (years) multichannel
Female 96.1 o20 1.7
Male 3.9 20-30 72.9 shopping
31-40 18.8
41-50 4.8
W50 1.8 9
Education Online shopping experience
High school 6.1 Yes 87.8
Bachelor’s degree (Poly/Diploma) 70.1 No 12.2
Master’s degree 23.4
Doctoral degree 0.4
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Frequency of individual access to the internet Duration of internet usage each time (hours)
(in the last 12 months)
Less than once a month 2.1 o1 5.7
At least once a month but not every week 2.1 1 to o2 18.3
At least once a week but not every day 16.1 2 to o3 32.8
At least once a day 79.7 3 to o5 20.5
5 to o8 12.2
⩾8 10.5 Table I.
Note: n ¼ 231 Sample demographics

cosmetics brands deciding to establish an online store. The four items were modified from
Chiu et al. (2011). Van Baal and Dach (2005) considered two basic transaction stages: the
information searching and evaluation stage (search information stage) and the agreement
and settlement phase in the purchase decision process (product purchase stage). These two
stages are assumed to be sufficiently separated for analysis (Chiu et al., 2011; Van Baal and
Dach, 2005). Given the model of two consequent transaction phases (search information and
product purchase) and two channels (online and offline), customers can take four paths to
make a product transaction. Finally, we adopted and extended a four-item scale for attitude
toward multichannel shopping behavior. Three semantic difference scales for measuring
the attitude toward multichannel customer behavior are anchored by a six-point scale
(good-bad; foolish-wise; and usable-unusable):
(1) I will search information in the retail stores and then purchase the product in the
retail store (Store→Store).
(2) I will search information in the retail stores but purchase the product online
(Store→Online).
(3) I will search product information in the online store but purchase the product in the
retail store (Online→Store).
(4) I will search product information in the online store and then purchase in the online
store (Online→Online).
Receptiveness to online store shopping. A four-item construct was modified from Heijden
et al. (2003) to measure consumers’ receptiveness to online store shopping; these items are
How likely is it that you would use this store’s website? How likely is it that you would
consider purchasing from this online store in the short run? How likely is it that you would
consider purchasing from this online store in the future? You would buy cosmetics products
from this online store. The five-point Likert-type scales were anchored by very unlikely and
very likely.
 INTR Customer-sales associate relationship. The customer-sales associate relationship based
27,1 on Chiou and Droge’s (2006) work was used to measure the degree to which customers have
special relationships with sales associates. This scale contained three items: if I switch to
another cosmetics brand, I have to take lots of time to develop friendships with the service
clerks of new brands, I feel more comfortable dealing with the service clerks of this brand,
which is different from others, and I enjoy chatting and doing business with the service
10 clerks of this brand, which is different from others. The seven-point Likert-type scales were
anchored by strongly disagree and strongly agree.
Future spending intentions. Past research has found that customers who use a retailer’s
multiple channels buy more often, buy more items, and spend more with the retailer than
single-channel customers (Ansari et al., 2008; Kumar and Venkatesan, 2005; Kushwaha and
Shankar, 2005). Three items were developed to gauge customers’ tendency for future
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spending on the brand when the company establishes an online store: after this brand’s
products are sold via its online store, will you spend more money on this brand than before?
After this brand’s products are sold via its online store, will you purchase this brand more
frequently than before? After this brand’s products are sold via its online store, will you
purchase more volume of this brand than before? The five-point Likert-type scales ranged
from very unlikely to very likely.
Control variables. We included two types of control variables: customers’ attitudes
toward the company and customers’ prior internet experiences. First, we controlled for
attitudinal loyalty effects, which are viewed as the consumer’s predisposition toward a
brand as a function of psychological processes ( Jacoby and Chestnut, 1978; Selin et al., 1988).
Customers’ attitudinal loyalty toward the company is measured using Selin et al.’s (1988)
four-item scale (five-point Likert scale responses). Cronbach’s α measure of reliability for
this construct is 0.79. Second, we controlled for brand trust, which is defined as the
willingness of the average consumer to rely on the ability of the brand to perform its stated
function (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001). This construct was measured on a five-point scale
ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Cronbach’s α measure of reliability for
this construct is 0.89. These two constructs are important to repurchasing behavior
(Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001; Steinfield, 2002). Customers who have had a shopping
experience with a traditional retailer and gained more knowledge about product quality and
service may trust an online store operated by that traditional retailer. In fact, Steinfield
(2002) found that click-and-mortar firms relied on their established brand recognition from
the traditional channel to build consumer trust for the new retail format. In other words,
customers’ attitudinal loyalty and brand trust toward the traditional retailer result in higher
purchasing intention toward the online retailer.
Last, prior internet experience is an important factor for online shopping behavior
(Heijden et al., 2003). Specifically, prior internet usage experience may influence consumer
norms, which serve as frames of reference for evaluating attitudes and intentions. In other
words, consumers with prior internet experience have higher normative standards for the
service context, such as ease of purchasing. Consequently, to control possible effects of
internet experience, the study included customers’ online shopping experience, duration
of internet usage each time, and frequency of individual access to the internet as
control variables.

4. Data analysis and results

4.1 Reliability and validity
To examine the reliability of the constructs in the questionnaire, we computed Cronbach’s α
for all constructs. The α’s of our results were 0.84, 0.94, 0.97, 0.94, 0.98, 0.83, and 0.92 for
seven dimensions. All α’s were greater than 0.80 and these values showed high internal
 consistency for all the measured constructs. Table II shows the means, standard Consumer
deviations, bivariate correlation coefficients of the constructs, and validity assessment choice of
results. According to Judge et al. (1988), multi-collinearity typically is considered multichannel
a serious problem only “if the correlation coefficient between the values of two regressors is
greater than 0.8 or 0.9.” All correlation coefficients in this study were less than 0.5. We tested shopping
for potential collinearity problems by checking variance inflation factors (VIFs). All VIF
values were lower than 2.0, well below the usual cutoff level of 10 (Hair et al., 1998). 11
This suggests that no multi-collinearity problems among independent variables exist
in this study.
To test the construct validity of each scale, the LISREL 8.7 maximum likelihood
program was used. Convergent validity is supported when the average variance
extracted (AVE) between the constructs and their measures is greater than 0.50 (Fornell and
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Larcker, 1981). In this study, the value of AVE for each construct exceeded 0.5, and the
square root of AVE of each contract was larger than the correlation of any two specific
constructs, indicating that the research obtained acceptable discriminant validity
(Fornell and Larcker, 1981).
The relevant overall fit indices for all the research constructs appear in Table III. The
data yield χ2 values of 267.48 for the samples (each with 188 degrees of freedom, p ¼ 0.00).
For a further assessment of model fit, examining a number of additional indices is
necessary. Thus, with a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.041 and
comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.99, these fit indices provide values that imply a good model
fit to the data set.

4.2 Hypotheses testing

To investigate our proposed hypotheses, a three-step multiple hierarchical regression
analysis was conducted. In step 1, the control variables were entered as a block. The two

Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Future spending
intentions 3.21 0.68 0.91 (0.93)
2. Store→Store 4.89 0.93 −0.121 0.92 (0.94)
3. Store→Online 4.50 1.40 0.390** −0.080 0.96 (0.97)
4. Online→Store 5.00 1.05 0.387** 0.101 0.492** 0.92 (0.94)
5. Online→Online 3.78 1.34 0.376** 0.015 0.494** 0.371** 0.97 (0.98)
6. Customer-sales
associate
relationship 3.80 1.22 −0.066 0.080 −0.194** −0.050 −0.047 0.94 (0.95)
7. Receptiveness
to online store
shopping 3.16 0.84 0.421** −0.219** 0.418** 0.277** 0.398** −0.106 0.95 (0.96) Table II.
Notes: Diagonal entries are square root of AVE and composite reliabilities in bracket; others are correlation Descriptive statistics
coefficients. *p o 0.1; **p o0.05; ***p o0.01 and correlations

χ2 df p-value RMSEA CFI NFI GFI

267.48 188 0.000 0.041 0.99 0.96 0.91

Notes: RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation; GFI, goodness of fit index; NFI, normed fit index; Table III.
CFI, comparative fit index Overall model fit
 INTR existential variables were entered in step 2, followed by their respective interactions with
27,1 attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior in step 3. The order of entry of the blocks
was based on methodological, historical, and theoretical considerations. Two types of
variables, customers’ attitudes toward the company and their prior internet experiences,
were entered first as a control for those variables. Entering the existential variables second
should provide a more stringent test of their unique contribution to the measures of control
12 variables. Finally, the interaction of the customer-sales associate relationship and
receptiveness to online store shopping were entered in step 3. In this regression model, an R2
change reveals information on the variance in the attitude toward multichannel shopping
behavior explained by each of the three blocks of variables. Within each block, the
standardized regression weights provide information on the relative contribution of
individual variables. Since the cross-product term between receptiveness to online store
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shopping and the customer-sales associate relationship in moderated regression may be

collinear with its constituent parts, which makes it difficult to detect main, simple, and
interaction effects, the mean-centering method was used to reduce the covariance between
the linear and interaction terms and thus mitigate the collinearity issue (Aiken and West,
1991). The results are shown in Table IV.
The regression results indicate that the customer-sales associate relationship does not
significantly affect the attitude toward using the physical retail store to both search information
and make purchases (Store→Store) ( β ¼ 0.008, pW0.1). However, the customer-sales associate
relationship statistically significantly reduces the attitude toward using the retail store to
search information and then turning to online channels for purchasing (Store→Online)
( β ¼ −0118, po0.05). These results imply that H1a is not supported but H1b is.
Consistent with H2, we found that receptiveness to online store shopping significantly
affects the attitudes toward four types of online and offline shopping behavior. Customers
with high receptiveness to online store shopping have a more positive attitude toward using
the physical retail store to search information and the online store to purchase (Store→Online)
( β ¼ 0.323, p o0.01), using the online store to search information and the physical store to
purchase (Online→Store) ( β ¼ 0.169, po0.01), and using the online store both for information
searching and product purchasing (Online→Online) ( β ¼ 0.346, po0.01). However, customers
with high receptiveness to online store shopping have a negative attitude toward using the
physical retail store to both search information and purchase products (Store→Store)
( β ¼ −0.198, po0.01). Thus, H2a-H2d are supported by the data.
The results also show significant interaction effects between the customer-sales associate
relationship and receptiveness to online store shopping on the attitude toward using the
physical retail store for information searching and the online store for purchasing
(Store→Online) ( β ¼ 0.118, po0.05) and the attitude toward using the online store in both the
information searching and product purchasing stages (Online→Online) ( β ¼ 0.111, po0.05).
As illustrated in Figure 1, in the high customer-sales associate relationship, customers with
high receptiveness to online store shopping have a higher attitude toward Store→Online than
those who have low receptiveness to online store shopping. On the other hand, customers with
low receptiveness to online store shopping have a more positive attitude toward
Store→Online when they have a low customer-sales associate relationship than a high
customer-sales associate relationship. A similar result is found for the interaction effect on the
attitude toward using the online store in both the information searching and product
purchasing stages (Figure 2). Therefore, H3a and H3b are supported by the data.
Furthermore, to test the effects of attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior on
future spending intentions, we ran a regression with future spending intentions as the
dependent variable and each type of attitude toward different kinds of multi- and single-
channel behaviors as the predictors. As shown in Table V, the effect of attitude toward
Store→Online, Online→Store, and Online→Online on future total consumption is significant
 Independent variables Dependent variables
Consumer
Control variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 choice of
multichannel
Store→Store Store→Online
Attitudinal loyalty 0.157** 0.158** 0.158** −0.070 −0.040 −0.039 shopping
Brand trust 0.153** 0.146** 0.154** −0.021 −0.023 −0.039
Online shopping experience 0.017 −0.023 −0.026 −0.282*** −0.210*** −0.204***
Duration of internet usage each time 0.014 0.014 0.021 −0.035 −0.034 −0.047 13
Frequency of individual access to the
internet −0.135** −0.091 −0.091 0.187*** 0.107* 0.108
Main effects
Customer-sales associate
relationship 0.008 0.005 −0.118** −0.111**
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Receptiveness to online store

shopping −0.198*** −0.189*** 0.323*** 0.304***
Interaction effects
Customer-sales associate
relationship × receptiveness to online
store shopping −0.059 0.118**
R2 0.090 0.126 0.130 0.119 0.232 0.245
Adjusted R2 0.070 0.098 0.098 0.099 0.208 0.217
ΔR2 0.090*** 0.126*** 0.130*** 0.119*** 0.232*** 0.245***
Online → Store Online → Online
Attitudinal loyalty 0.024 0.023 0.023 −0.070 −0.080 −0.080
Brand trust −0.072 −0.066 −0.076 0.071 0.088 0.073
Online shopping experience −0.194*** −0.153*** −0.149** −0.240*** −0.169*** −0.164***
Duration of internet usage each time 0.026 0.024 0.017 −0.064 −0.066 −0.078
Frequency of individual access to the
internet 0.277*** 0.227*** 0.228*** 0.136** 0.061 0.063
Main effects
Customer-sales associate
relationship 0.001 0.005 0.026 0.032
Receptiveness to online store
shopping 0.169*** 0.158*** 0.346*** 0.328***
Interaction effects
Customer-sales associate
relationship × receptiveness to online
store shopping 0.071 0.111**
Table IV.
R2 0.135 0.147 0.152 0.076 0.183 0.194 Regression analysis
Adjusted R2 0.115 0.120 0.121 0.055 0.156 0.164 for attitude toward
ΔR2 0.135*** 0.147*** 0.152*** 0.076*** 0.183*** 0.194*** multichannel shopping
Notes: n ¼ 231. *p < 0.1; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01 behavior

and positive ( β ¼ 0.145, p o0.1; β ¼ 0.265, p o0.01; β ¼ 0.193, p o0.05, respectively).

However, attitude toward Store→Store shopping behavior has a negative and significant
effect on future spending intentions ( β ¼ −0.167, po 0.05). Accordingly, H4a-H4d are
supported by the data.

5. Conclusion
The goal of this research was to demonstrate that the customer-sales associate relationship
can be either a liability or an asset for multichannel marketer adoption. The effect of the
customer-sales associate relationship on the multichannel strategy is not uniformly positive
 INTR
27,1 5.0 Receptiveness to online
store shopping
4.8 4.81
4.77
High
Store → Online 4.6
Low

14 4.4
4.37

Figure 1. 4.2
Interactions between
“customer-sales 4.0
associate relationship”
and “receptiveness to 3.8
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online store shopping” 3.76

on attitude toward
searching in retails Low High
but purchasing online
Customer-sales associate relationship

4.2 Receptiveness to online

4.10 store shopping
4.0
3.98
Online → Online

High
3.8 Low

3.6
3.47
Figure 2. 3.4
Interactions between 3.33
“customer-sales 3.2
associate relationship”
and “receptiveness to 3.0
online store shopping”
on attitude toward
searching online and Low High
purchasing online
Customer-sales associate relationship

and depends on consumers’ receptiveness to online store shopping. To the best of our
knowledge, this research is the first empirical demonstration of these associations. These
findings advance the understanding of the effect of personal relationships on multichannel
customer strategy, including practical and theoretical implications.
First, we show that the customer-sales associate relationship is an asset for customers with
low receptiveness to online store shopping. In other words, customers will decrease their
online store switching behavior if they engage in personal relationships with their favorite
sales associates. Personal relationships create dependency because considerable switching
costs are involved to replace the service of the physical store (Chiou and Droge, 2006; Heide
and John, 1988; Joshi and Stump, 1999). Personal relationships mean that merchants can
capture those consumers who are keen to shop online with their new online store to obtain
more sales while keeping the business of those who are not so interested in online shopping,
and sales associates can still invest effort in those customers who are not keen to shop online.
They can provide personal recognition and familiar service to those customers. Therefore, a
 Types of attitude toward multichannel shopping behavior β coefficients
Consumer
choice of
Main effects multichannel
Store→Store −0.167**
Store→Online 0.145* shopping
Online→Store 0.265***
Online→Online 0.193**
Control variables
15
Attitudinal loyalty 0.033
Brand trust 0.034
Online shopping experience −0.079
Internet usage every time 0.082
Table V.
Frequency of individual access to the internet −0.117*
The impact of attitude
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R2 0.267 toward multichannel

Adjusted R2 0.236 shopping behavior on
F-ratio 8.694*** future spending
Notes: n ¼ 231. *p o0.1; **po 0.05; ***po 0.01 intentions

strategy that encourages those customers to use the online store for information searching is
suitable because this can improve the selling efficiency in the physical store.
Second, marketers involved in multichannels should develop an appropriate multichannel
strategy by reinforcing the customer-sales associate relationship with those customers who
have high receptiveness to online store shopping. A well-integrated multichannel can lead to
desirable customer behaviors (Bendoly et al., 2005; Montoya-Weiss et al., 2003). The
integration of online and conventional offline channels may well prove to be a productive and
complementary approach (Harris and Goode, 2004). For example, a well-integrated
multichannel allows customers to order online and pick up their order or return products
at the nearby store. This integrated multichannel strategy may allow the sales associates in a
physical store not to resist the online outlet due to fears of cross-channel cannibalization.
Finally, the multichannel is not always effective for every customer. Previous research
has reported that multichannel shoppers buy more often, buy more items, and spend more
than single-channel shoppers (Kumar and Venkatesan, 2005; Kushwaha and Shankar, 2005;
Van Baal and Dach, 2005). However, relatively little is known about how customers with
different multichannel shopping attitudes affect total sales. This study demonstrates that
those who prefer to stay with physical stores believe that their total spending will not
increase when their favorite retail store opens an online store. The results provide some
insight into the challenges that marketers face with customers who hold a traditional
physical store shopping preference. Also, multichannel marketers should not assume that
“more is better.” In fact, in many situations, a company’s physical store can provide image
building and personalized service that its online store cannot accomplish. In other words,
the services provided in the physical store actually promote the online business and the
online store business may hurt the business in the physical store.
From a theoretical implication perspective, the internet has proven an effective channel for
selling and distributing products and services; it has been a guiding force among strategic
decision makers (Deleersnyder et al., 2002). However, a lot of the literature has suggested that
adding online channels likely injects uncertainty into sales agents’ job situations, which often
feeds the negative perceptions of these individuals (Ashford et al., 1989). Whether in a
business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) environment, sales agents, who
were once the sole connection to the customer, may fear that the internet will not only
cannibalize their sales and create conflict within the organization but also render them
outmoded and eventually replace them. Gulati et al. (2002) focused on factors leading to sales
 INTR agents’ job insecurity due to the “fear of disintermediation.” Disintermediation is a situation in
27,1 which an internet channel is added to entrenched channels (e.g. Alba et al., 1997; Brynjolfsson
and Smith, 2000) and threatens to eliminate traditional channel partners (Narayandas et al.,
2002). However, some scholars have proposed that the internet does not generate significant
cannibalization and will not replace salespeople (Deleersnyder et al., 2002; Ward and
Morganosky, 2000). They have suggested that marketing channels are aligned with distinct
16 purchase channels. That is, consumers are more likely to search information in one channel
and purchase in another (e.g. online search leading to store purchase). They hypothesized that
interchannel complementarities are likely to play a role, especially in online searching.
Therefore, the internet may not seriously jeopardize the effectiveness of relationships between
sales agents and their companies. In this paper, our main contribution is to demonstrate that
the effect of the customer-sales associate relationship on multichannel strategy is not
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uniformly positive and depends on consumers’ receptiveness to online store shopping.

6. Limitation and future studies

Some limitations and suggestions for future study should be noted. First, the object of the
present research is premium cosmetics products, which usually require personal service in
the physical retailer. If a product requires less involvement and personal service, the
influence of the relationship with sales associates on multichannel shopping attitudes might
be reduced. Future studies can explore the proposed relationships in different industries to
test for generalizability.
Second, most multichannel firms are not structured to provide their customers with an
integrated brand experience across channels (Rangaswamy and van Bruggen, 2005).
Normally, separate divisions or marketing groups are responsible for different channels.
The results of this study show that consumers with both high internet shopping intention
and relationships with sales associates tend to adopt multichannel shopping behaviors.
More studies are needed to explore the optimal marketing effort to ensure a positive channel
experience for customers. A multichannel firm must ensure that it has appropriate
incentives and policies in place so that all the channel entities act as one unit in meeting the
needs of its customers.
Third, this study informed the respondents that the price level was the same at the two
channels to reduce the confounding effect caused by price differences between online and
offline channels; however, firms may utilize flexible price strategies in response to price
elasticity in demand or service cost in different channels. Future research should explore the
possible impact of different prices on consumers’ multiple channel decisions.
Fourth, more studies should be conducted in different countries, cultures, and areas. Our
research hypotheses were empirically tested in a Taiwanese sample. Past research has
found that culture plays a significant role in consumer online behaviors (Chua and
Wareham, 2002; Mahmood et al., 2004). The strength and relative importance of the
proposed constructs in this study may differ across cultures.

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About the authors

Jyh-Shen Chiou (PhD in Marketing, Michigan), is a Professor of Marketing at the National Chengchi
University, Taiwan. His research focuses on service marketing, consumer loyalty, and strategic
marketing. His work has been published in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Electronic
Commerce Research and Applications, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Service Management,
Information and Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal
of Social Psychology, etc.
Szu-Yu Chou is an Assistant Professor at the Ming Chuan University. Her research interests focus
on internet marketing, strategic marketing and service marketing. Her work has been published in
Journal of Business Research.
George Chung-Chi Shen is a Professor of Marketing at the National Chiayi University, Taiwan.
His research interests include internet marketing, online consumer behavior, and service marketing.
His work has been published in Internet Research, Journal of Service Management, Industrial
Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Computers in Human Behavior, Behaviour &
Information Technology, etc. George Chung-Chi Shen is the corresponding author and can be contacted
at: georgeccshen@gmail.com

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