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The future of the retail landscape is altering with the advent of technology as the report by McKinsey (2020). The evolving retail sector can be broadly attributed to technology usage in decision making, customer engagement and big data analytics (Bell et al. 2014; Brynjolfsson et al. 2013; Grewal et al. 2017). Technology and automation are not only redrafting the business operational models, value proposition but also changing consumer preferences and purchase behavior. Moreover, consumers are now increasingly using both offline and online retail channels throughout the purchase journey (pre-purchase to post-purchase) (Wang et al., 2020), thus making omnichannel retail even more pertinent due to the accelerating changes in modern consumer behavior. Further, the emerging consumer purchase patterns require seamless switching across all retail channels, reinforcing the need for a seamless omnichannel shopping experience. Hence, retailers have also channelized their endeavors towards omnichannel strategic management, operations management, organizational structure integration and others (Larke et al., 2018). For instance, IKEA Group (Sweden based multinational furniture retailer) followed the channel integration strategy extensively, enabling customers to shop in ways that suit their needs (Zisko, 2019). Notably, the most remarkable change in retailing is integration of multiple retail channels (Dennis et al., 2016; Grewal et al. 2017; Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson 2014; Rigby 2011) to offer a ubiquitous experience to customers (Homburg et al., 2015; Shi et al. 2020). Consequently, omnichannel retail has emerged as the new norm in retail requiring identification of omnichannel customer engagement and strategic omnichannel retailing (Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson, 2019a).
Furthermore, the recent changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic have also altered the retailing landscape across the globe for both customers as well as retailers. According to new research by BigCommerce and Retail Dive (2021), around 46% of retail executives have diverted their investment towards the omnichannel retail strategy, compared to their plans in the pre-pandemic scenario. The global market for omnichannel retail is projected to reach US$13.46 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 6% during 2021-2026, against the backdrop of altering consumer preferences and retailing modes (Research and Markets, 2021; 360 Research Reports, 2021). Besides, brick and mortar stores expect their footprints to evolve over the next three years, with nearly 80% of retailers planning to add both online and offline retail channels to reach out to customers through an omnichannel ecosystem (Colliers, 2021). Conclusively, omnichannel retail intends to offer a seamless purchase journey across channels and consistent channel performance to customers; increased sales, customer retention and competitive advantage to retailers, obtained through synergetic performance across channels (Wang et al., 2020).
Scholars have attempted to comprehend and explore omnichannel retailing on multiple fronts. Studies based on different aspects such as omnichannel conceptual understanding (Rigby, 2011), omnichannel shopping behavior (Lazaris et al., 2014), the role of technology and digitization (Hagberg et al., 2017), organizational strategy, omnichannel business models (Wiener et al., 2018) etc. are outcomes of such endeavors. Furthermore, studies have also attempted to identify the impact of digitalization on the business models of brick-and-mortar retail stores. For instance, Hagberg et al. (2017) highlighted a prime observation towards the role of digitalization in converting customers into omnichannel customers. Consequently, the omnichannel retailing strategy has gained prominent attention among scholars to effectively serve the customers. The strategy has been elucidated as a transition on multiple fronts of omnichannel strategy such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), operations management, marketing management and others (Hansen & Sia, 2015; Picot-Coupey et al. 2016).