Discussions and perspectives on the success of Internet retailing have gone
through several phases. In the early days of the New Economy, the Internet, as a
retailing channel, was widely considered to be superior to store-based retailing
channels. Yet, on the opposite end, some considered the New Economy boom as a
mere hype phenomenon without lasting impact on the economy. It was expected that, as soon as the hype was over, the Internet would no longer play an important
role.
After the New Economy bubble had burst and the dust had settled, a new perspective,
that had already been proclaimed in early phases of the Internet boom
[StKl99], gained popularity: the simultaneous use or integration of online and offline
channels by retailers, also termed click & mortar or multi channel (in the
sense of combining physical and virtual channels) retailing. The Internet, and to an
increasing extent mobile technologies, continuously inspire visions of completely
integrated online and offline channels that support customer channel switching in
any transaction phase [RhSh02; Ste+02].
Expectations regarding the profitability of extensive channel integration are high.
Consultancies for example claim that multi channel customers are more loyal and
two to four times more profitable than single channel customers [OC&C02]. Empirical
evidence however shows that a great majority of retailers do not or only to
a very limited degree integrate their physical and virtual channels. Often named
measures of channel integration such as in-store pick-up or in-store return of
goods ordered online have only been implemented by a fraction of retailers. Even
basic online purchasing functionality is only offered by a low number of retailers
[Stei04].
Based on these contradictory findings, we argue that there is no single best strategy
for multi channel retailing, such as a far reaching integration of channels.
Rather, it appears that retailers choose fundamentally different multi channel
strategies. Even within a single industry, some retailers actually choose to extensively
integrate channels, while others implement strategies where one channel
dominates the other [Mül+04].
To reconstruct and analyze retailers’ choices of multi channel strategies, we adapt
the concept of strategic alignment [HeVe93] to the context of multi channel
strategies. We interpret the choice of multi channel strategies as an alignment of
general marketing and online strategies. In contrast to perspectives proclaiming
that a higher degree of integration is per se the more beneficial strategy, this perspective
leads to a more differentiated understanding of the appropriateness of retailers’
multi channel strategies. We demonstrate this by using the case studies of
grocery retailers with mature business models and marketing strategies that play
prominent roles within their respective markets.
In chapter 2, we briefly review distinct multi channel retailing strategies to illustrate
the strategic diversity in multi channel retailing. Chapter 3 introduces the
original strategic alignment model. Subsequently, we present the derived model of
strategic channel alignment and associated alignment perspectives which we apply
to the four cases from grocery retailing. Limitations of research are discussed in
chapter four, leading to the concluding remarks made in the final chapter.
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