| dc.description.abstract | Parallel to the digitization of Western societies retailers have been offering customers
more and more meeting points and places for transactions. Today you can not only shop in
physical stores or online, but through both channels simultaneously. From this development, the
concept of omnichannel retailing has manifested, which is where a seamless movement across
channels and touchpoints is enabled. Prior research on omnichannels have for instance aimed at;
conceptualizing the phenomena, studying the effect of different kinds of channel integration, and
measuring threats and benefits attributable to the use of multiple channels. Some have also
measured the difference between multichannel and omnichannel, but most of them lack a holistic
approach to omnichannel shopping experiences, where several channels and services are linked
together. Therefore, the quantitative experimental research design applied in this study instead
intends to test the causal relationship between different levels of channel integration and type of
channel content, and customer satisfaction, purchase intention and brand attitude, in a full-length
shopping experience. The Millennial generation is the focus of this study, as they are the first
digital natives, that is, the first to be raised in a digital world. The direct and moderating effect of
the Millennial generation’s increasing digital competence and e-commerce experience was thus
also taken into account and measured. The findings reveal that the level of channel integration
does not significantly impact the level of customer satisfaction, purchase intention and brand
attitude. When taking the consumer variable into consideration, it was found that the higher level
of digital competence and e-commerce experience a customer has, the higher the level of
customer satisfaction, purchase intention and brand attitude is. Finally, there was a significant
interaction effect between digital competence and e-commerce experience and channel
integration measured, on level of purchase intention. The findings of this paper hint that even
though customers are positive to integration of channels and touchpoints, the level of integration
does not seem to play a key role. Consequently, a multichannel solution may suffice for now,
therefore companies do not need to rush an omnichannel solution. | sv |
