Factors Effecting Omnichannel Customer Experience: Evidence from Fashion Retail

Hadiqa Riaz,Umair Baig,Hassaan Ahmed,Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene

doi:10.3390/info13010012

Hadiqa Riaz, Umair Baig + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/info13010012

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Abstract

This research work was designed to investigate the changing dynamics of the retail landscape driven by omnichannel retailing, and to determine the effects on the omnichannel customer’s experience. The role of omnichannel customer behavior in the relation between omnichannel retailing and customer experience was assessed through a survey of 265 omnichannel customers of different fashion retail brands in Pakistan. The results of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) showed a strong mediating effect of omnichannel customer behavior in channeling the drivers of omnichannel retailing towards an enhanced customer experience. Omnichannel retailing helps to enhance the customer experience via determinants of omnichannel integration, order fulfilment, usability and seamlessness. The research findings underpin the positive significant effect of all factors of omnichannel retailing on the customer experience. Among the four omnichannel retailing constructs, seamlessness emerged as a major direct and indirect contributor, followed by omnichannel integration and usability dimensions. Notwithstanding the small sample size, this research contributes to the omnichannel retailing landscape of Pakistan’s fashion retail industry by suggesting a functional approach for creating a fully integrated shopping experience and omnichannel strategies for fashion brands. Furthermore, it will also provide brands an opportunity to strengthen their customers’ experience throughout the buying channel.

Highlights

150 years ago, rapid urbanization disrupted the retail sector, driven by industrialization, which helped department stores to blossom
Later in the nineteenth century, the rise of discount stores and category killers transformed the retail environment. These developments and changes in the retail sector did not allow any of the previous formats to fade away, they readily transformed and reshaped their predecessor’s value-creating narrative [1,2]
As a result of the continuous development of technology and digital platforms, the conventional retail environment, in which customers shopped from separate silos, morphed into a completely new single and seamless shopping experience, i.e., the “Omnichannel Experience”

Summary

Introduction

Later in the nineteenth century, the rise of discount stores and category killers transformed the retail environment These developments and changes in the retail sector did not allow any of the previous formats to fade away, they readily transformed and reshaped their predecessor’s value-creating narrative [1,2]. As a result of the continuous development of technology and digital platforms, the conventional retail environment, in which customers shopped from separate silos, morphed into a completely new single and seamless shopping experience, i.e., the “Omnichannel Experience”. In this new environment, consumers can shop by alternating between e-commerce, physical, and m-commerce platforms [4]. Multichannel retailing focuses on more than one sales channel, which have little or no interaction between each other, the omnichannel retail model works on the integration and unification of all touch points to enable customers to move seamlessly without any break in the experience [5]

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