OMNICHANNEL CUSTOMER STRATEGY IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY DURING THE AGE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

After having analysed previously researches finding the critical and positive aspects of the digital transformation process in particular for the “omnichannel customer strategy implementation”, this study explores some key findings of the scientific literature in order to fill some gaps about the need for future researches for the authors. Specifically, first, the aim of this qualitative research through many interviews to the managers in the field of fashion industry (among 10 to 15 managers), is to understand how much it is important for a company to implement an omnichannel customer strategy and which are some obstacles for its implementation. Second it tries to understand how the new digital technologies create competitive advantage for the corporation and how much time it takes to cover the initial cost of the investment. Third this study seeks to comprehend how customers are changing their behaviour during their purchasing decisions and which are the new company performance metrics across different touchpoints and which of the new touchpoints most contributes to the customer value perception. From what is emerged from past researches, physical stores are crossing a critical phase in raising their position, so it is important to realize how the offline world can coexist with this digital transformation to remain competitive. In the omnichannel world, in which the boundaries between online and offline channels are altered, this study also wants to understand how companies can overcome the problem of price competition between different sales channels in order to avoid the cannibalization. So, are there any new skills and qualities that employees should develop? Whit the benefits of hindsight, what would companies have done differently today and what did they learn from initiatives that did not work? This research tries to answer all the questions and provides a deep analysis of the benefits of omnichannel strategy.