24 research outputs found

    Examining the Impact of Omnichannel retailing on Buying Intention Using Binary Models

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    The last decade showed that the customer journey is no longer linear and now contains numerous touchpoints. Omni-channel retailing intends to provide a smooth retail experience irrespective of where the consumer is on the internet or in-store, and which device they are using, or which channel they are accessing content through. The objective of this study was to check whether the integration of omnichannel has any impact on the buying intention of consumers in retail stores. The study used Probit and Logistic model to fulfill the study objective. The results show that omnichannel integration in retail stores has a significant positive impact on buying intention. Moreover, the results also show that the quality of the product, brand image, and social influence has a significant positive impact on the buying intention in the context of retail stores. This study recommends that retail stores can influence the buying intention of consumers by implanting an effective omnichannel strategy

    Irish Omnichannel Retailers Response to Changing Customer Behaviour, Preference, Concerns and Experience of Irish Customer.

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    This research highlights the key step taken by the Irish Omnichannel retailers to address the current change in overall Irish Customer. The study mainly focuses on responses by the Irish omnichannel retailers on five major customer categories- Customer behaviour, Customer preference, Customer concerns and overall Customer experience. To make sure that the data collected for this research is comparable and could be analysis the researcher has made sure of two things. First, all the research subjects are serving the same customer base. For this study researcher has chosen large-scale omnichannel grocers based in Dublin as the research subject and second thematic analysis is used to analyse and code the gather data. Findings and the conclusion of this research shine the light on the fact that Omnichannel retailers responded to the change in each customer element with action steps tailor-specific to the element. For instant Omnichannel retailer responded to the change in customer behaviour with steps like providing safe atmosphere to the customer to shop in whereas they the shift of preference to online shopping with launching their own digital applications

    Moderating role of lean practices on the relationship between on-shelf availability and retail SMEs performance

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    Firm performance is a critical issue for Malaysian industries. This includes the retail sector which always strives for on-shelf availability superior performance. The main objective of this study was to examine the relationships between on-shelf availability (OSA) and the SMEs’ performance (FP) of the retail subsector. This empirical research integrated OSA drivers, namely operational (OPS), behavioral (BVL), managerial (MGR) and coordination (CDN). Studies focusing on Malaysian retail SMEs’ performance especially in terms of the determinant effects on FP are scarce. Thus, this study utilized lean practices (LP) as a moderating variable in examining its influence on the determinants and FP. Data were collected from SMEs’ owner-managers in the retail category within the central region of peninsular Malaysia using the cross-sectional study design. The quantitative method was utilized through survey questionnaires. This study adopted stratified sampling and 373 retail SMEs were randomly selected. 151 usable responses were analysed and regressed using the PLS-SEM software. Results of the structural model assessment for direct relationship by PLS-SEM indicated that OPS, BVL and CDN had significant effects on FP. However, MGR did not provide any significant positive effect on FP. The results also showed that LP moderated three relationships, namely OPS-FP, BVL-FP and MGR-FP, but not the CDN-FP relationship. In this study, theoretical contribution was evident by integrating the Constraints and Contingency constructs, where the results were able to extend the body of knowledge in SMEs literature. The results of this study provide important inputs to the owner- managers, researchers and policy-makers to further understand the determinant effects on retail SMEs’ performance and the moderating effect of lean practices. Finally, the study's limitations and future research directions are explored

    Factors that contribute to an optimal omnichannel retail experience: A South African perspective

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    The increase in the number of channels driven by technology trajectory over the years have led to a change in customer behaviour. Customers move around different retailer platforms during a single purchase; even so customers still expect a superior and seamless customer experience while navigating these channels. The present study built on studies conducted in countries such as China, Spain, India, United Kingdom amongst others to determine if the learnings from these countries can be applied in the South African context. This study used an interpretivist phenomenological approach and interviewed a qualitative sample of participants to gain insights on their experiences while shopping in these retailers. This study will assist Information Technology managers with prioritisation of their technology roadmaps. This study will also contribute to computer science studies because programmers will have a context of a customer’s perspective when developing omnichannel solutions. Lastly, the study can be used by governments and policy makers in developing national strategic plans relating to shared economy because the study highlights the need to omnichannel retailing in remote areas. The findings from the research were summarised into five themes customer experience, convenience, product, support, and security. The optimal South African omnichannel retail experience is one that allows the customer to seamlessly move across channels by integrating the retailing mix elements of product, place, promotion, price. To achieve this experience, retailers must integrate the customer’s profile information and ensure that the customer’s payment details are secure and are able to seamlessly login in all the retailer platforms. Contrary to the researcher’s expectations, South African customers do not expect an omnichannel support. They expect to keep online support separate from in-store support.Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, 202

    Factors that contribute to an optimal omnichannel retail experience: A South African perspective

    Get PDF
    The increase in the number of channels driven by technology trajectory over the years have led to a change in customer behaviour. Customers move around different retailer platforms during a single purchase; even so customers still expect a superior and seamless customer experience while navigating these channels. The present study built on studies conducted in countries such as China, Spain, India, United Kingdom amongst others to determine if the learnings from these countries can be applied in the South African context. This study used an interpretivist phenomenological approach and interviewed a qualitative sample of participants to gain insights on their experiences while shopping in these retailers. This study will assist Information Technology managers with prioritisation of their technology roadmaps. This study will also contribute to computer science studies because programmers will have a context of a customer’s perspective when developing omnichannel solutions. Lastly, the study can be used by governments and policy makers in developing national strategic plans relating to shared economy because the study highlights the need to omnichannel retailing in remote areas. The findings from the research were summarised into five themes customer experience, convenience, product, support, and security. The optimal South African omnichannel retail experience is one that allows the customer to seamlessly move across channels by integrating the retailing mix elements of product, place, promotion, price. To achieve this experience, retailers must integrate the customer’s profile information and ensure that the customer’s payment details are secure and are able to seamlessly login in all the retailer platforms. Contrary to the researcher’s expectations, South African customers do not expect an omnichannel support. They expect to keep online support separate from in-store support.Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, 202

    AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF NEW INNOVATIVE PROCESSES IN RETAIL

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    Retailers constantly innovate to improve their operations to maintain a competitive advantage, which has become even more apparent following the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. One challenge with innovating, however, is that limited information is available to evaluate the effectiveness of the operations. Fortunately empirical methodologies of structural estimation and field experimentation can be used to help determine if innovative processes at retail chains are fruitful when implemented. Field experiments provide direct causal evidence on whether the innovations will work while structural estimation allows for examining counterfactual scenarios to evaluate outcomes from such process innovations. In this dissertation, we leverage structural estimation and field experimentation to study three topics on the frontier of innovations in retail operations: a) dynamic pricing of product drops in the presence of resellers, b) localization of inventory for e-commerce retailers, and c) increasing customer recycling through operational incentives. The key results are as follows. In Chapter 2, through structural estimation we show that incorporating resellers into pricing improves retailer profit by 7% on average, and the impacts of the resale market to firm profit are heterogeneous across products based on the initial inventory relative to the initial demand. In Chapter 3, through structural estimation we find that distribution centers closer to the customer (front DCs) allow the e-commerce retailer to capture an average 10.7% benefit to profit by improving average promised delivery time by 28.3%. Front DCs allow to capture sales from high-margin SKUs with high demand where backup fulfillment results in much longer promised delivery time. In Chapter 4, through field experiments we find that the chosen value-based incentives and convenience-based incentives are ineffective at inducing customers to engage in recycling behavior, despite importance of these incentives toward recycling intentions reported in the literature. Our results suggest that offering programs to encourage e-waste recycling behavior can be a costly endeavor.Doctor of Philosoph

    Omnichannel Operations Management

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    This dissertation studies how a firm could effectively make use of different selling channels to provide consumers with a seamless shopping experience. In the three essays, by analyzing stylized models where firms operates both online and offline channels and consumers strategically make channel choices, we examine the impacts of different types of omnichannel strategies in different industries. In the first essay, we focus on a specific omnichannel fulfillment strategy, i.e., buy-online-and-pick-up-in-store (BOPS). We find it may not be profitable to implement BOPS on products that sell well in stores. We also consider a decentralized retail system where store and online channels are managed separately, and find it is rarely efficient to allocate all BOPS revenue to a single channel. In the second essay, we study how retailers can effectively deliver product and inventory information to omnichannel consumers who strategically choose whether to gather information online/offline and whether to buy products online/offline. Specifically, we consider three information mechanisms: physical showrooms, virtual showrooms, and availability information. Our main result is that these information mechanisms may sometimes change customers’ channel choice in a way such that total product returns increase and total retail profit decreases. In the third essay, we look at the restaurant industry. Specifically, we study the impacts of different self-order technologies on service operations. Online technology, through websites and mobile apps, allows customers to order and pay before coming to the store; offline technology, such as self-service kiosks, allows store customers to place orders without interacting with a human employee. We develop a stylized queueing model and study the impacts of self-order technologies on customer demand, employment levels, and restaurant profits. We find there could be a win-win-win situation, where everyone in the market, i.e., consumers (including those who do not use the technology), workers and the firm, could benefit from the implementation of the self-order technologies

    Abordagem preditiva e adaptativa de gestão operacional aplicada à cadeia de suprimentos do varejo Omni-channel

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    Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Florianópolis, 2020.A evolução tecnológica e a digitalização possibilitam a comercialização de produtos através de múltiplos canais e plataformas de forma integrada, propiciando a gestão de varejo omnichannel. Esse processo contínuo de integração das tecnologias digitais/virtuais aos processos gerenciais físicos dos diversos canais influencia na interação das organizações com os clientes. O comportamento de consumo dos clientes é influenciado em decorrência do aumento da conveniência, tornando, contudo, a gestão operacional das cadeias de suprimentos do varejo mais complexa. Para a gestão da cadeia de suprimentos de varejo omni-channel a complexidade reside na incerteza, oscilações no volume de vendas e incompatibilidade entre oferta e demanda. Para lidar com essa complexidade é necessária a adoção de abordagens inovadoras relacionadas a tecnologias de informação e métodos de decisão inteligentes, destacados pela indústria 4.0. No entanto, ainda faltam pesquisas sobre a conexão entre os mundos digital e real, principalmente quando se trata de cadeias de suprimentos de varejo omni-channel, que se baseiam na integração de fluxos e atividades multicanais para melhor atender ao consumidor. Neste contexto, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo propor uma abordagem preditiva e adaptativa para a gestão operacional combinando aprendizado de máquina para minimizar a incerteza, e otimização baseada em simulação para lidar com a sincronização entre oferta e demanda, aplicada à cadeia de suprimentos do varejo omni-channel. Para isso foram identificados os métodos de aprendizado de máquina, de simulação e de otimização aplicados à cadeia de suprimentos e a indústria 4.0 com o intuito de apoiar a escolha do método de redes neurais e da otimização baseada em simulação por meio do algoritmo genético. O método de redes neurais e a otimização baseada em simulação foram analisados por meio de aplicação de um caso teste, visando identificar a aplicabilidade do método levantado na literatura, na gestão operacional da cadeia de suprimentos varejista omni-channel. Em seguida, a abordagem preditiva e adaptativa é aplicada a uma empresa varejista brasileira e como resultado um modelo de gerenciamento operacional de demanda e suprimentos é proposto para a cadeia de suprimentos varejista omnichannel. Os resultados da aplicação do modelo evidenciaram uma redução dos custos da cadeia de suprimentos, do tempo de entrega dos produtos e da quantidade de pedidos provenientes da incompatibilidade de oferta-demanda. Dessa forma, a tese possibilitou a redução das incertezas proveniente da previsão de demanda, redução da falta de produtos na cadeia, e consequentemente um melhor gerenciamento da distribuição da cadeia de suprimentos.Abstract: Technological evolution and digitalization enable the commercialization of products through multiple channels and platforms in an integrated way, providing omni-channel retail management. This ongoing process of integrating digital / virtual technologies into the physical management processes of the various channels influences the interaction of organizations with customers. Customer consumption behavior is influenced by the increase in convenience, however, making the operational management of retail supply chains more complex. For the management of the omni-channel retail supply chain the complexity lies in uncertainty, fluctuations in sales volume and incompatibility between supply and demand. To address this complexity, it is necessary to adopt innovative approaches related to information technologies and intelligent decision methods, highlighted by industry 4.0. However, there is still a lack of research on the connection between the digital and real worlds, especially when it comes to omni-channel retail supply chains, which are based on the integration of multi-channel flows and activities to better serve the consumer. In this context, this research aims to propose a predictive and adaptive approach to operational management combining machine learning to minimize uncertainty, and simulation-based optimization to deal with synchronization between supply and demand, applied to the omni-channel retail supply chain. For this, the machine learning, simulation and optimization methods applied to the supply chain and industry 4.0 were identified in order to support the choice of neural networks method and simulation-based optimization through the genetic algorithm. The neural networks method and the simulationbased optimization were analyzed by applying a test case, aiming to identify the applicability of the method raised in the literature, in the operational management of the omni-channel retail supply chain. The predictive and adaptive approach is then applied to a Brazilian retail company and as a result an operational demand and supply management model is proposed for the omnichannel retail supply chain. The results of the model application showed a reduction in the supply chain costs, in the products fulfillment time and in the quantity of orders resulting from the incompatibility of supply and demand. In this way, the thesis allowed reduce uncertainties arising from demand forecasting, reduce product shortages in the chain, and thereby better manage supply chain distribution
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