Key factors impacting success of omnichannel retailing: A managerial perspective

• Main Author: NARASIMHAN, Anuradha
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Omnichannel Retailing; eCommerce; Brick-and-Mortar Retail; Channel Management; Fashion Industry; Retailing Framework; Omnichannel; COVID-19; Marketing
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/408; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/etd_coll/article/1406/viewcontent/Anuradha_Narasimhan_PhD_Dissertation_Final_2022.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Omnichannel retailing has revolutionized consumer behaviour with consumers seamlessly flitting between offline and online channels as they explore, shop, buy, receive, and exchange or return products and services. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital and omnichannel adoption by consumers as retailers and brand owners create strategies and deployment to stay ahead. Omnichannel retailing is about seamless channels from the consumers’ perspective and about integrated channels from the firms’ side. This firm-focussed study examines the key factors driving success of omnichannel retailing using a mixed-methods approach – we conducted twenty-five depth interviews and received 146 responses to the quantitative survey from senior management professionals. Data was analysed for offline-first organizations and results for the overall industry sample indicate that a small set of internal factors covering both strategy and execution elements impact success, viz. top management digital focus and having a digital specialist, organizations building people capabilities in technology domain, organizations engaging in joint-business-planning with digital retailers and having competencies of cross-channel product returns. When organizations focussed differentially on channels, e.g., distinct online product portfolio or did not balance short-term and long-term horizons, e.g., supply chain maximization not optimization, these were detractors to success. The core industry segment and the COVID-19 pandemic were the external factors impacting omnichannel success which organizations have to contend with. The findings from the fashion industry subset indicate that organizations in this segment had omnichannel strategies in place and a higher preparedness for digital channels pre-COVID. Hence the factors impacting success of omnichannel retailing for the fashion industry were largely in the execution domain. The empirical models for omnichannel retailing success are a key contribution to both academia and practice, and future research directions include developing omnichannel business models for online-first organizations, extending the model to emerging markets beyond India, and understanding sustainability of the omnichannel business model post COVID. Keywords: Omnichannel Retailing, eCommerce, Brick-and-Mortar Retail, Channel Management, Fashion Industry, Retailing Framework, Omnichannel, COVID-19