Abstract
The Covid 19 pandemic has profoundly affected the competitive context of retail companies. Multiple changes have occurred both in consumer behaviour, in retail strategy and marketing channels. In particular, the pandemic has accelerated the use of digital technology in the processes of physical purchase and distribution of retail products, favouring new forms of integration between physical and online channels (so-called omnichannelling). Many brick&mortar stores have closed down, others have modified their original logistic functions in favor of the new digital integrated ones, with a smaller number of point of sales assuming the connotation of flagship stores with greater force. Some cases confirm the acceleration that took place towards the integration and redefinition of the roles of physical and online channels. The biggest retailers empower their predominance in the global markets. Smaller operators could renew their role by shaping new forms of collaboration to survive.
Highlights
The Covid 19 pandemic has profoundly affected the competitive context of retail companies
This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the retail sector, identifying the evolution patterns from multichanneling to omnichanneling
The protective measures adopted by retailers against the COVID-19 virus significantly and positively influenced customer safety during shopping, their attitudes and satisfaction, which resulted in an increase of their behavioral intentions towards new integrated forms of digital and face-to-face shopping (Untaru & Han, 2021; Kazancoglu & Demir, 2021)
Summary
The Covid-19 pandemic, which occurred in the first half of 2020, had strong consequences both at the economic level, with the interruption of production activities, and at the social level, as it strongly impacted on people's daily lives, whereby habits and behaviors underwent a sudden change that was difficult to predict. This occurred in a historical period in which technological innovations were already producing significant changes as regards production and exchange processes, which have been accelerated. Table n.1 shows the three key issues of academic studies which were identified
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