Understanding the key drivers of and technology related issues associated with going multi-channel

A multi-channel retail strategy is viewed by many academics and practitioners to be the success model for most retailers. Yet, while there are many drivers of, and advantages related to, using multiple channels to sell products and services to customers likewise there are numerous technology-related issues. Despite this, the multi-channel retailing literature provides little empirical insight into these technology-related constraints. Moreover, there is a lack of multi-channel retailing research which explores the impetuses behind retailers adding new channels to go multi-channel, especially in the context of the UK retail sector. To contribute to gaps in the literature this study utilises a case study research strategy to examine the key motivations behind, and technology-related issues associated with, multi-channel retail strategic implementation, in the setting of the UK retail sector. Three UK based retailers (Boots, Screwfix and Bettys) are used which have different approaches to, and are at different stages of, adopting a multi-channel retail strategy. In addition, they have different backgrounds such as size, product range, sector and type. Consequently, the use of these three different retailers enables exploration of the drivers behind, and technological problems associated with, implementing a multi-channel retail strategy in the context of store and Internet/catalogue retailers. Case analysis reveals novel themes which are not identified, or not clearly recognised, in the literature. These include that key drivers behind retailers going multi-channel are to increase sales, and, meet the needs of the multi-channel shopper. Indeed, customers want to shop via multiple channels and therefore, these retailers have no choice but to go multi-channel if they are to meet customer needs. However, while at a strategic level these motivations were similar across the case study retailers, they also differed. For example, Screwfix added a store channel to enable customers to purchase products and receive them instantly. In contrast, Boots added an Internet channel to drive footfall in-store and increase store sales. Boots were also adding an Internet channel since it provided them with a marketing channel, which, going forward, was likely to replace other communications channels. The findings from this study also reveal that retailers encounter major technology-related issues when adding new, and using multiple, channels. These problems stem from the need to re-design existing logistics and IT infrastructure to offer a seamless, integrated offer to the customer. For instance, to leverage the brand and marketing mix consistently across all channels, and, to implement ‘click and collect’ (i.e. where customers purchase a product in one channel and collect it in another). Also, due to the need to use innovative marketing techniques, in particular, social media. Importantly, this study highlights that these technology-related multi-channel retailing constraints often have a ‘softer’ side. Technology-related problems are frequently intertwined with cultural, engagement and financial/staff resource related issues. This suggests a need for retailers to find entwined solutions to both technology and non- technology related issues to effectively implement a multi-channel retail strategy

Hyperelliptic curves for multi-channel quantum wires and the multi-channel Kondo problem

We study the current in a multi-channel quantum wire and the magnetization in the multi-channel Kondo problem. We show that at zero temperature they can be written simply in terms of contour integrals over a (two-dimensional) hyperelliptic curve. This allows one to easily demonstrate the existence of weak-coupling to strong-coupling dualities. In the Kondo problem, the curve is the same for under- and over-screened cases; the only change is in the contour.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, revte

Structural Completeness of a Multi-channel Linear System with Dependent Parameters

It is well known that the "fixed spectrum" {i.e., the set of fixed modes} of a multi-channel linear system plays a central role in the stabilization of such a system with decentralized control. A parameterized multi-channel linear system is said to be "structurally complete" if it has no fixed spectrum for almost all parameter values. Necessary and sufficient algebraic conditions are presented for a multi-channel linear system with dependent parameters to be structurally complete. An equivalent graphical condition is also given for a certain type of parameterization

Dynamically Induced Multi-Channel Kondo Effect

We study how the multi-channel Kondo effect is dynamically induced to affect the photoemission and the inverse photoemission spectrum when an electron is emitted from (or added to) the completely screened Kondo impurity with spin $S>1/2$. The spectrum thereby shows a power-law edge singularity characteristic of the multi-channel Kondo model. We discuss this anomalous behavior by using the exact solution of the multi-channel Kondo model and boundary conformal field theory. The idea is further applied to the photoemission for quantum spin systems, in which the edge singularity is controlled by the dynamically induced overscreening effect with a mobile Kondo impurity.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Solving non-Markovian open quantum systems with multi-channel reservoir coupling

We extend the non-Markovian quantum state diffusion (QSD) equation to open quantum systems which exhibit multi-channel coupling to a harmonic oscillator reservoir. Open quantum systems which have multi-channel reservoir coupling are those in which canonical transformation of reservoir modes cannot reduce the number of reservoir operators appearing in the interaction Hamiltonian to one. We show that the non-Markovian QSD equation for multi-channel reservoir coupling can, in some cases, lead to an exact master equation which we derive. We then derive the exact master equation for the three-level system in a vee-type configuration which has multi-channel reservoir coupling and give the analytical solution. Finally, we examine the evolution of the three-level vee-type system with generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck reservoir correlations numerically.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Raw Multi-Channel Audio Source Separation using Multi-Resolution Convolutional Auto-Encoders

Supervised multi-channel audio source separation requires extracting useful spectral, temporal, and spatial features from the mixed signals. The success of many existing systems is therefore largely dependent on the choice of features used for training. In this work, we introduce a novel multi-channel, multi-resolution convolutional auto-encoder neural network that works on raw time-domain signals to determine appropriate multi-resolution features for separating the singing-voice from stereo music. Our experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve multi-channel audio source separation without the need for hand-crafted features or any pre- or post-processing

WKB approximation for multi-channel barrier penetrability

Using a method of local transmission matrix, we generalize the well-known WKB formula for a barrier penetrability to multi-channel systems. We compare the WKB penetrability with a solution of the coupled-channels equations, and show that the WKB formula works well at energies well below the lowest adiabatic barrier. We also discuss the eigen-channel approach to a multi-channel tunneling, which may improve the performance of the WKB formula near and above the barrier.Comment: 15 pages, 4 eps figure

General Model for Infrastructure Multi-channel Wireless LANs

In this paper we develop an integrated model for request mechanism and data transmission in multi-channel wireless local area networks. We calculated the performance parameters for single and multi-channel wireless networks when the channel is noisy. The proposed model is general it can be applied to different wireless networks such as IEEE802.11x, IEEE802.16, CDMA operated networks and Hiperlan\2.Comment: 11 Pages, IJCN

Ultra Wide Swath Imaging With Multi-Channel SAR Systems

Multi-channel radar systems allow for overcoming the inherent limitation of conventional synthetic aperture radar (SAR). An example is the combination of digital beamforming on receive in elevation with multi-aperture SAR signal reconstruction in azimuth which enables high-resolution wide-swath. As a next step, focus is turned to advanced concepts for the imaging of even wider swaths with high azimuth resolution. In this regard, the paper investigates the operation of multi-channel SAR systems in burst modes like ScanSAR or TOPS-SAR and analyses aspects of applying the multi-aperture reconstruction algorithm in combination with burst mode operation. The impact of the digital processing network on the SNR and the azimuth ambiguity-to-signal-ratio in multi-channel burst mode systems are considered and embedded in the design example of a ScanSAR system that enables the imaging of a 400 km wide swath with a geometric resolution of 5