Editorial Emerging Perspectives on Marketing in a Multichannel and Multimedia Retailing Environment Venkatesh Shankar a, ⁎ & Manjit S. Yadav b a Department of Marketing, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4112, USA b Center for Retailing Studies, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA The impact of changes in technology on business and society continues to be a topic of major interest to researchers and prac- titioners. In an engaging book entitled Mediamorphosis that appeared several years ago, Roger Fidler presented an in-depth exploration of how media technologies such as the radio and television evolved during the early part of the twentieth century. Using that historical backdrop, Fidler (1997) examined trends related to the merging of different types of media that had tradi- tionally remained distinct but were beginning to merge to yield new, less understood forms. Despite the relatively unfamiliar terrain and dynamics of this new media landscape, Fidler ob- served that “the forces shaping our future are essentially the same that have shaped our past” (p. 7). This perspective certainly has merit. However, in addition to recognizing the continuity of fundamental individual, business, and societal forces, it is equally important to acknowledge the possibility of disruptions in business and society that can stem from technological shifts. Developing a clear understanding of what aspects of business remain the same, what elements change, and why they change due to technological shifts, remains an enduring pursuit for researchers and managers. Reflecting on changes in marketing triggered by the Internet and related technological developments, it becomes readily ap- parent that Fidler's intuition was right—a lot of extant knowl- edge regarding markets, consumer, and firms still matters and will most likely continue to do so. Developing superior products and taking them to market on the strength of a well-conceived marketing mix, remain just as relevant today as in previous years. What has changed significantly is the execution, and, in many situations, the outcomes of these decisions. Data availability to support and refine such decisions has expanded significantly. Market segments have lost their traditional coarseness, pricing decisions can be updated more frequently, new media have emerged, and an expanded set of channel options are now avail- able to firms and consumers. Collectively, these changes raise a number of significant questions that touch upon practically every substantive issue in marketing. In the retailing context, the focus of this special issue, researchers and managers have struggled to fully understand the implications of recent developments in multimedia and multi- channel. For instance, does location still matter in retailing? How rapidly or slowly will consumers adopt new technologies that could eventually result in a shift in deeply-entrenched purchas- ing preferences? Will the decline of search costs result in sharply lower prices and profit margins? Collectively, what implications do answers to such questions have for retailers' competitive strat- egies and their outcomes? The articles that appear in this special issue address these and related issues. Keller (2010) examines brand management challenges in the growing multichannel, multimedia retail envi- ronment. He recognizes that marketers need to manage each channel of communication and delivery to maximize sales and leverage direct and indirect brand equity, while developing syn- ergistic delivery and communication strategies. He advances a framework for analyzing these challenges and outlines future research directions to address these challenges. Kumar (2010) proposes a multichannel, multimedia com- munications framework based on customer lifetime value that applies to both B2C and B2B contexts. The framework advo- cates sending targeted messages to customers in firms' data- bases using differentiated modes of communication for four customer segments, which he labels as “Icons,”“Go-Getters,” “Opulents,” and “Misers.” Kumar suggests responses custom- ized to these segments based on the purpose of the inbound communication call. He also offers managerial implications and outlines future research avenues. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Journal of Interactive Marketing 24 (2010) 55 – 57 www.elsevier.com/locate/intmar ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: vshankar@mays.tamu.edu (V. Shankar), yadav@tamu.edu (M.S. Yadav). 1094-9968/$ - see front matter © 2010 Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2010.02.003