A binding tie: why do customers stick to omnichannel retailers?

From Multiple Channels to Omnichannel Integration: Why Do Customers Stick with Omnichannel Retailers? As e-commerce, mobile shopping, and physical retail continue to converge, consumers increasingly move across different channels, including physical stores, websites, and mobile applications. For retailers, integrating these channels to provide customers with a consistent and seamless shopping experience has therefore become an important issue in omnichannel retailing. In the study A binding tie: why do customers stick to omnichannel retailers?, examines how channel integration quality affects customer stickiness in omnichannel retailing and explores the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Drawing on Commitment-Trust Theory, the study connects the integration of retail channels with the development of customer relationships. Do More Channels Make Customers Stay? A central question of the study is whether providing customers with more shopping channels necessarily leads to stronger and more lasting relationships with retailers. To address this question, the study conceptualizes channel integration quality through five dimensions: channel choice breadth, channel service transparency, content consistency, process consistency, and perceived fluency. These dimensions capture different aspects of how retail channels are integrated and how such integration may shape customer stickiness. The study surveyed 868 female consumers with omnichannel shopping experience and employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the proposed relationships. The findings indicate that customer stickiness is not simply a consequence of having more channels available. Rather, it is closely related to whether different channels can provide a consistent and seamless service experience. From Channel Integration to Customer Relationships The study further shows that trust and relationship commitment play important roles in linking channel integration quality with customer stickiness. When customers can move across channels while receiving consistent product information, prices, promotions, and services, and can complete their shopping and post-purchase activities smoothly, they may develop greater trust in the retailer and stronger relationship commitment. This suggests that the value of channel integration extends beyond transactional convenience and can also contribute to the development of customer–retailer relationships. Perceived fluency has particular theoretical significance in the study. Rather than treating fluency simply as an outcome of successful channel integration, the study conceptualizes it as an important component of channel integration quality. Effective omnichannel integration therefore involves more than connecting different channels technically; it also requires customers to experience their interactions across channels as continuous, natural, and easy to navigate. The research model explains a meaningful proportion of variance in customer stickiness, with an R² of 0.53, highlighting the roles of channel integration quality, trust, and relationship commitment in understanding how customer stickiness develops. The Key to Omnichannel Retailing: Making Different Channels Work as One A key practical implication of the study is that omnichannel strategy is not simply about offering more channels, but about enabling different channels to work together as an integrated experience. For example, customers may search for products on a mobile device, compare information on a website, and then visit a physical store to experience or purchase the product. In such customer journeys, consistency in product information, prices, promotions, and service processes across channels can help reduce the inconvenience associated with switching between channels. The objective of omnichannel retailing, therefore, extends beyond increasing the number of customer touchpoints. It involves integrating different channels into a more continuous customer experience. When channels work together effectively, the variety of options enabled by digital technologies can be translated into a more coherent and sustainable customer relationship. The study was published in the international information systems journal Information Technology & People and has received 56 citations, with a Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of 4.29. FWCI provides a reference for understanding the citation impact of research relative to comparable research in the field. The citation record and FWCI of the study also reflect continued research interest in omnichannel retailing, channel integration, and customer relationships. From Multiple Channels to an Integrated Experience As retail evolves from e-commerce and multichannel operations toward omnichannel integration, interactions between consumers and retailers are increasingly shaped by experiences that extend across multiple channels. By examining channel integration quality together with trust and relationship commitment, this study suggests that customer stickiness is not simply a result of having more channels available. Instead, it is associated with the overall experience customers receive when moving across channels and the trust and relationships that develop from that experience. The study highlights an important consideration for retailers developing omnichannel strategies: beyond asking which additional channels can be offered, it is also important to consider whether different channels can function together as a coherent service experience. This perspective provides a basis for understanding the continuing evolution of omnichannel retailing from simply having multiple channels toward deeper integration across the customer journey.