Omnichannel retailing strategy: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Technological advances and continued digitization are having a powerful impact on consumer behaviour, market development, and business-consumer interactions. Companies are trying to support these developments by providing multiple integrated channels. Omnichannel retail strategy is a new retail trend that has transformed retail industry by consolidating all customer touch points into one holistic experience. The present study aims to systematically review the extant literatures regarding key drivers that stimulate retailers to shift from multichannel to omnichannel strategy and the outcome of omnichannel strategy in the context of channel integration from the retailer’s perspective and seamless shopping experience form the customer’s perspective. A systematic literature review was conducted, and screenings criteria were performed to refine the articles. A total of 48 articles meet the selection criteria were reviewed analysed, and important information was extracted. The review result reveals that the omnichannel theme is emerging; showing relevance and novelty, but still requires a theory-driven research, comparative studies across cultures and qualitative approach to collect rich first-hand data from retailers and customers point of view. This article is timely and useful as it provides a holistic view of omnichannel retail research and provides literature-based evidence on the drivers and outcomes of omnichannel retail strategy from the perspective of retailers and customers. It also makes it possible to map scholarly activity on the subject, thus contributing to the advancement of future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Omnichannel
• customer
• seamless
• retailing
• systematic literature review

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the very constructive comments and valuable suggestions of reviewers and other researchers who helped us to improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aregu Asmare

Aregu Asmare, Assistant professor in management, Department of Management, College of Business and Economics, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

Shimelis Zewdie

Shimelis Zewdie, Associate professor in management, Department of Management, College of Business and Economics, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia