Charla Mathwick, Naresh K. Malhotra, and Edward Rigdon

Retailing in the 21st century means doing business with customers on their own terms, selling not only in stores, but also through the Web, catalogs, call centers, interactive television, and mobile devices. Rather than displacing one another, these various retail channels can be combined to enhance value under different shopping conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine how catalog and Internet retail channels either enhance or undermine consumer perceptions of value associated with the retail experience. In this empirical investigation, results suggest various aspects of a dynamic retail experience can influence consumer perceptions of experiential value, measured in terms of efficiency, affordability, enjoyment, entertainment value, visual appeal, and service excellence.

The nature of the consumer's shopping task -- whether it is experientially oriented as typified by browsing, or goal oriented and guided by focused purchase intent -- appears to exert a direct influence on consumer perceptions of efficiency, economic value, and shopping enjoyment. Specifically, study participants engaged in focused, goal- oriented shopping perceived a significantly higher return on their investment of time, effort, and money, whereas study participants engaged in experiential shopping were rewarded with the perception of heightened enjoyment. This implies that retailers that have developed channel systems capable of delivering an efficient shopping experience and offering substantive economic value should consider positioning that channel system to emphasize these specific sources of value. Consumers with well-formulated shopping plans are in a receptive frame of mind for this type of retail experience. Experiential shoppers, on the other hand, are looking for and apparently find heightened enjoyment in the process of shopping. Knowing this, retailers might consider designing channel systems with an eye to enhancing the inherent enjoyment of the shopping experience for this type of customer.

Congruence between the characteristics of a consumer's shopping task and the way retail information is displayed appears to be a key to enhancing the perceived aesthetic appeal and perception of service excellence in a retail setting. Retailers that support the completion of a consumer's specific shopping task appear to enable the consumer to appreciate the retail environment in which he or she operates. However, when a consumer become preoccupied with the challenge of making a retail environment conform to the shopping task at hand, the retail experience appears to be disrupted. This disruptive effect was observed through a significant deterioration in consumer responses to the visual and entertaining aspects of the retail experience as well as the perceived excellence in service delivery.

Retail managers contemplating market access through a multi-channel system must be clear about what their customers are trying to accomplish when using their services. Not all retail channels can, or should be, positioned as satisfying all consumer needs. Approaching the retail channel design task from the perspective of facilitating different shopping goals may help clarify where investments should be made and how various channels should be positioned in the marketplace.