Multichannel integration

Question 1

1. It has been highlighted that Multi-, Cross-, and Omni-Channel retailing strategies represent a unique set of activities when selling through more than one channel. What are their central features, according to Beck & Rygl (2015)?

Answer 1

Multi-channel retailing: The set of activities involved in selling merchandise or services through more than one channel or all widespread channels, whereby the customer cannot trigger channel interaction and/or the retailer does not control channel integration. There is no interaction or integration between the different channels. They operate independently.
(E.g. a brick and-mortar retailer, who is part of a franchise, does not own its own website, but there is a group website. There are two channels available to the customers to purchase from: a physical store and a website, but both channels are managed separately.)
Omni-channel retailing: The different channels are fully integrated and communicate with each other. Customers can interact with different channels. Hence, all channels are connected and complement each other; this provides a seamless shopping experience.
(E.g. ‘Hema’ from online retailer Alibaba. All products in the physical ‘Hema’ store have a QR code, which customers can scan to get more information about the product. It is no longer a need to wait in line to buy the product in the same store since the ‘Hema’ app can be used to check-out.)
Cross-channel retailing: Two interpretations. (1) The customer can trigger partial interaction and/or the retailer can control partial integration of at least two channels or all channels widespread at that time.
An example of this is products bought online that can be collected or returned to a physical store.
(2) The customer can trigger full interaction and/or the retailer can control full integration of at least two channels, but not for all channels widespread at that time.
An example of this are coupons that can be redeemed across all channels except the physical store.
In both definitions integration is present; the first definition requires partial integration, the second definition requires full integration. Both definitions also demand multiple channels; the first definition uses all channels, the second definition does explicitly not use all channels.

Question 2

2. One of the conclusions Trenz et al. (2020) work on is that “convenience” perception is a crucial variable that omnichannel retailers can affect. What are the dimensions of “convenience” in the context of omnichannel retail? Describe them.

Answer 2

These dimensions of convenience can be increased in the acquisition and post-transaction phases.

Speed and effort in a multichannel environment:
When acquiring products in a physical store, speed until consumption is strongly tied to the amount of effort expended by consumers. This is because a service delay in the physical world would automatically translate into greater effort required for completing the transaction. The same can be said for online channels where speed is determined by the transactional duration and the time until delivery. Since time until delivery is dictated by the shipping options being offered, variations in convenience among online transactions can be attributed to the amount of time and effort consumers must devote to transacting with the store.

Speed and effort in omnichannel environment:
The speed and effort of a transaction are not necessarily intertwined in omnichannel retail. If omnichannel integration services were to be present, an improvement in speed does not necessarily lead to less effort. For example, choosing to pick up a purchase in store over having it delivered implies less time until consumption, but getting to the store could be more effortful than opting for the delivery option. Consequently, cross-channel synergies afforded by omnichannel integration services point to a necessity to conceptually separate speed and effort in omnichannel retail in order to cater for more fine-grained appreciation of speed and effort convenience.

Flexibility in omnichannel environment:
Furthermore, the convenience of choosing among multiple paths for service delivery, which is afforded by omnichannel integration services, cannot be fully captured by speed and effort alone. Omnichannel integration services bestow consumers with the ability to accomplish transactional activities across multiple channels, thereby opening up a larger range of options. Indisputably, adherence to a single channel always imposes a certain degree of channel-misfit or inconvenience on customers. Omnichannel integration services could potentially reduce this inconvenience by introducing flexibility that flows from the accessibility of multiple alternatives. This flexibility aspect of convenience is a core distinction of omnichannel integration services that was overlooked in past studies on channel choice due to their overwhelming emphasis on consumers’ choice between nonintegrated online and offline channels. Accordingly, we decompose the notion of convenience into its constituent dimensions of speed, effort, and flexibility to accommodate the unique contextual properties of omnichannel retail.