Optimizing Customer Experience in Omnichannel Retail Research Plan Niklas Penttilä
Research topic and motivation A new type of technologically native consumers do not recognize separate channels but instead expect seamless and integrated experiences across all channels Optimizing customer experience in omnichannel retail The thesis is a commission to the Finnish retailer Kesko and the case part of the thesis will focus on Kesko s hardware chain K-Rauta! Dramatic changes of retail during the past couple of decades Retail landscape and the consumer have changed Emergence of multiple online and digital channels Lines between channels have become blurred or obsolete, which calls for integration Retailers are struggling in Finland in developing new strategies to address the changed landscape and customer
Prior research Prior research has focused on multichannel strategies and omnichannel has become a buzzword during the past couple of years. Below some articles on omnichannel that I refer to in the literature review Verhoef, P. C., Kannan, P. K., & Inman, J. J. (2015). From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing: Introduction to the special issue on multi-channel retailing. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 174-181. Bell, D. R., Gallino, S., & Moreno, A. (2014). How to win in an omnichannel world. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(1), 45. Previous multichannel literature has focused on three broad topics: Impact of channels on performance Shopper behavior across channels Retail mix across channels
Research questions At this stage my research question is as follows: How to optimize customer experience in omncihannell retail in the different stages of the customers purchase process? So my thesis will link consumer behavior theory to omnichannel strategy and different elements that suit the various stages of the consumer decision making process will try to be identified Previous literature (at least to my knowledge) has not tried to identify specific omnichannel strategies of the various stages of the consumer purchase process
Framework The framework of consumer behavior will be a simplified model of the classical five stage EBM model of consumer behavior. The EBM model will be simplified into three stages: SEARCH PURCHASE AFTER SALES Two reasons for using this simplified model: 1. Literature covering e.g. channel choice in a multichannel environment use this model. 2. Consumer behavior and consumer psychology not the main topics of this thesis, so a simplified model is justified
Structure
Framework The consumer theory will be linked to omnichannel strategies identified from literature to form a new type of framework which at this stage I refer to as the: Omnichannel Customer Benefit Framework. A very rough draft below:
Methodology As said this thesis is a commission to Kesko Based on the discussions I have had with Kesko the methodology of this thesis will be a Case Study I will interview both customers and sales people at K-Rautas retail locations I have not yet decided on the questions e.g. should they be open ended or not? I will try to formulate the questions as early as by the end of the week Kesko s desire was to focus more on the online channels and what they should be doing in that context. This will be taken into account in the interview questions! Both customer s and salespeople will be interviewed (Kesko s wish)
Goals of this thesis Hopefully to get some concrete suggestions what Kesko should do in K-Rauta both in the online channels and the physical store, with perhaps alittle more emphasis on the online channels Identify best practices of an omnichannel stratgey that covers the whole consumer purchasing process. The whole work will be based on a customer perspective so by best practices I mean e.g. integration activities most valued by customers
Schedule I have the goal of having this thesis finished by the summer. The literature review is for the most part done and at the moment I m working on formulating the interview Activities Reading background literature and writing literature review Date Formulating interviews and collecting data 5-24.4 January-March Analyzing data 25.4-1.5 Results and conclusions 2.5-8.5 Finalizing and modifying thesis 9.5-22.5 Final Presentation 24.5