Key factors in developing omnichannel customer experience with finnish retailers

Abstract

Change in consumer behavior towards increased use of digital services throughout the buying process drives retailers to rethink their services. Contemporary shoppers engage in a mixture of real-life and digital activities combining events in brick-and-mortar stores with online and mobile browsing. Our interviews with seven Finnish retailers show that the changing consumer behavior affects not only services but also other operations including organizational structure and supply chains. For analysis purposes, we modified customer journey maps to record and illustrate user activity. We conclude that a good omnichannel customer experience lies in the unity of retailer’s organizational culture, pricing, operations, and communications. Instead of full-range digital and physical service offering, seamless and intuitive linking of consumer touch-points appears as a promising path. Our results contribute to better understanding of omnichannel customer experience indicating the need for a more profound approach in omnichannel development to more traditional channel and customer interface development.