New Models of Strategic Customers in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing

Abstract

In the omnichannel era, consumers optimize their shopping experience by exhaustively considering all possible alternatives across both online and offline channels. In this chapter, we present new approaches to model consumer behavior in the omnichannel environment. We start by reviewing traditional models of strategic consumer behavior and then apply them to omnichannel initiatives in the retail industry. These omnichannel strategies help mitigate two key problems in retail: stockouts and product misfit. We hope that our models can inspire future research in the emerging area of omnichannel retailing.