Title: Purchasing channel choice based on fuzzy TOPSIS method

Authors: Yuangao Chen; Shuo Wang

Addresses: School of Information, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, No. 18 Xueyuan Street, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang, China ' School of Information, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, No. 18 Xueyuan Street, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang, China

Abstract: Consumers nowadays are faced with the dilemma of choosing a purchasing channel amongst offline traditional channel, online internet channel and cross-channel. This study indicates four major factors that influence consumer's channel choices, including perceived risk, information availability, service quality experience and delivery service. A channel choice model based on the fuzzy TOPSIS method is presented. Furthermore, a case study of book retailing is provided to verify the model. Results prove the feasibility and practicality of this method and reveal that the cross-channel strategy is the optimal policy in purchasing channel design. Finally, conclusions and management implications for a channel design are presented, along with possible directions for further research.

Keywords: purchasing channel; online; offline; cross-channel; fuzzy TOPSIS.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2017.085477

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2017 Vol.23 No.3, pp.237 - 253

Received: 08 Jan 2016
Accepted: 04 Jul 2016
Published online: 28 Jul 2017 *

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