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Multichannel customer management is the design, deployment, coordination, and evaluation of channels through which firms and customers interact, with the goal of enhancing customer value through effective customer acquisition, retention, and development. The authors identify five major challenges practitioners must address to manage the multichannel environment more effectively: (a) data integration, (b) understanding consumer behavior, (c) channel evaluation, (d) allocation of resources across channels, and (e) coordination of channel strategies. The authors also propose a framework that shows the linkages among these challenges and provides a means to conceptualize the field of multichannel customer management. A review of academic research reveals that this field has experienced significant research growth, but the growth has not been distributed evenly across the five major challenges. The authors discuss what has been learned to date and identify emerging generalizations as appropriate. They conclude with a summary of where the research-generated knowledge base stands on several issues pertaining to the five challenges.
Keywords: customer relationship management; multichannel management; channel data integration; multichannel retailing; mutlichannel shopping
One of the most dramatic trends in the shopping environment has been the proliferation of channels through which customers can interact with firms. The Internet, kiosks, ATMs, call centers, direct marketing, home shopping networks, and catalogs, as well as bricks-and-mortar stores, are now commonplace means by which consumers shop. This proliferation has created a challenge for firms to manage this environment effectively and opportunities for academics to produce insights that can help address these challenges. The field of "multichannel customer management" has emerged as a result. The purpose of this article is to (a) identify key challenges practitioners must address to manage the multichannel environment more effectively, (b) propose a framework that shows the linkages among these challenges and provides a conceptual structure of the field, and (c) summarize academic research thus far about how to address the key challenges. As a result, we hope to provide a blueprint for academics wishing to conduct research in this area and a substantive summary for managers to enhance their decision-making abilities.
By channel, we mean a customer contact point, or a medium through which the firm and the customer interact. Our emphasis on the term interact reflects that we do not include one-way communications,...