From the store to omnichannel retail: looking back over three decades of research

Abstract

The retail sector has gone through major changes over the past three decades. These changes have been made possible by advances in information and communications technology that have enabled new business models, communication tools, technologies, and supply-chain practices to emerge and shape the behavior of actors across the retail value chain. For example, from its initial incarnation as only a separate, albeit small, channel in the retail and marketing mix, e-commerce is now a critical part of a firm’s multi- and omnichannel strategy. In this paper, we synthesize current knowledge drawn from academic retail literature and discuss potential directions for future research. This study contributes to research by developing five research propositions, based on our literature review, to guide researchers to better grasp the technological and digital developments across the retail sector over the next decade or so.