Drivers and technology-related obstacles in moving to multichannel retailing

Today, multichannel retailing is a key strategic issue for most retailers. Yet, while there are many drivers associated with retailers going multichannel so too are there technology-related obstacles, however, few prior empirical studies explore these themes. In light of this, by using a multi-case approach to understand the key drivers and technology-related obstacles associated with retailers moving to multichannel retailing our study makes two key contributions. First, we extend prior theory by providing novel empirical insights into the main drivers underpinning retailers using a multichannel strategy. We find that meeting customer needs and increasing sales were the primary drivers behind retailers using the strategy, although there is diversity in the way retailers respond to these motives. Second, we provide empirical support for a proposed theoretical framework which summarises the key technology-related obstacles retailers encounter when going multichannel, by stage of implementation. The framework reveals that retailers face technology-related obstacles when implementing a multichannel strategy due to the need to switch/acquire resources and achieve channel integration. Furthermore, the framework highlights that these resource and channel integration issues are often interrelated with each other and with other staff engagement and cultural issues, vary by retailer and stage of implementation, and pose greater obstacles to retailers using new and multiple channels than the extant literature suggests

Analyzing the Business Model of a Corporate Procurement Platform: The Case of Siemens click2procure

Across industries, a shift from business-to-business exchanges operated by independent agents to company- or consortia-run exchanges can be observed. Procurement platforms represent a major share of these exchanges. However, the design of these platforms remains a difficult task since interests of both the buyer and supplier side have to be considered. In this paper, we introduce the case of click2procure, Siemens ’ corporate procurement platform, and discuss potential effects of central elements of click2procure’s business model on buyer and supplier acceptance.

Measuring Consumers ’ Acceptance and Preferences with a Limit Conjoint Approach

Coupons are an established promotional tool in marketing and sales. The increasing adoption of mobile telephony and ongoing diffusion of mobile phones have spurred first attempts in mobile couponing. Since consumer preferences and information on service choice behaviour can be of significant value in development processes of innovative products or services such as mobile couponing, we applied a limit conjoint analysis in order to gather first evidence regarding consumer preferences for mobile couponing service attributes. Of the four service attributes included in the conjoint experiment, the configuration channel was found to have the greatest relative importance, followed by the type of coupons, the possibility to personalize or filter the offered coupons, and the location-awareness of the couponing service. Limit card ranks indicated that more than 80 % of the n=125 subjects would accept at least one of the described mobile couponing services. 1. Research Challenge The design of mobile services is at the center of interest of companies pushing into th

Coarse Qualitative Descriptions in Robot Navigation

This work is about the integration of the skills robot control, landmark recognition, and qualitative reasoning in a single autonomous mobile system. It deals with the transfer of coarse qualitative route descriptions usually given by humans into the domain of mobile robot navigation. An approach is proposed that enables the Bremen Autonomous Wheelchair to follow a route in a building, based on a description such as "Follow this corridor, take the second corridor branching off on the right-hand side and stop at its end." The landmark recognition uses a new method taken from the field of image processing for detecting significant places along a route

Thermoresponsive PEG-Based Polymer Layers: Surface Characterization with AFM Force Measurements

Thermoresponsive polymer-coated surfaces based on poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate-co-oliog(ethylene glycol) methacrylate) [P(MEO(2)MA-co-OEGMA)] allow switching between cell attachment and detachment. Here, we investigate the temperature-dependent surface interactions between the polymer coating and a colloidal probe in an aqueous medium by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) force-distance measurements. The analysis of the adhesion forces from AFM retraction curves indentifies two kinds of regimes for the copolymer at temperatures below and above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Whereas at 25 degrees C the surface interactions with the polymer in the swollen state are dominated by repulsive forces, at 37 degrees C the surface interactions switch to attractive forces and a stronger adhesion is detected by AFM. Running several healing/cooling cycles repeatedly shows that switching the surface properties provides reproducible adhesion force values. Time-dependent measurements give insight into the switching kinetics, demonstrating that the cell response is coupled to the polymer kinetics but probably limited by the cellular rearrangements