The domain of omnichannel in marketing: approaches and scopes of research

Abstract

The emergence of omnichannel is regarded as a direct consequence of digitalization. The first studies of omnichannel occurred in the retail sector, but today there is an increasing interest in omnichannel in other services, such as tourism, the hospitality industry, healthcare, and banking. At the same time, omnichannel has been influenced by digitization and the Internet, which are undergoing rapid changes, so the phenomenon of omnichannel itself is rapidly transforming. The paper determines the main approaches to the omnichannel phenomenon, its characteristic features, and research scopes based on current research. The main approaches to the definition of omnichannel have been systematized and analyzed. Thus, the main definitions of omnichannel in the scientific literature have been given in the aspects of retailing, marketing, management, strategy, and business. Therefore, terminological ambiguity can be observed, which actualizes the relevance of further research on theoretical developments in omnichannel. The creation of seamless and consistent customer experience (СX) through the integration of online and offline channels (digital and physical) at all stages of the consumer journey has been pointed out as a common characteristic of omnichannel. The important scopes inherent in omnichannel, i.e. Channel Integration and Customer Perception, have been distinguished. The main issues within the scope of Channel Integration have been defined as the followings: omnichannel strategies; the dimensions of omnichannel integration from customer and company viewpoints; the Integration Quality of Channels; the dimensions of omnichannel integration from both customer and company viewpoints. The main issues within the scope of Customer Perception have been defined as the followings: the determinants / factors influencing seamless CX and consumers’ behavior; the factors influenced by a seamless CX and channel integration; the omnichannel-capable measurement of CX; the dimensions of a seamless CX.

Keywords

• business
• strategy
• management
• marketing
• retailing