Ozuem, Wilson ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0337-1419 , Patten, Elena and Azemi, Yllka, eds. (2019) Harnessing omni-channel marketing strategies for fashion and luxury brands. BrownWalker Press / Universal Publishers, Irvine, CA, US. Full text not available from this repository.
(Contact the author)Abstract
Introduction: Technological advancements have led to changes in customer expectations and methods by which businesses interact with consumers. The Internet exposed customers’ diverse evaluations and expectations, detaching companies’ market approaches from a single marketing channel. This no longer assures companies a disseminated online presence, isolating their exposure to a partial customer target. Competition in the online environment presents a higher risk to companies in general, and to those with business strategies that contradict mass customization in particular (Ozuem et al, 2008; Azemi et al 2018). Fashion and luxury brands remain less resistant to such a danger, aiming for a full utilization of marketing channels. Their business strategy of a niche nature calls for marketing strategies that assure zero customer loss. There is widespread agreement in academic literature that multichannel retailing encompasses the concept of integrating the different channels operating within one organization. However, the complexity of the multichannel retailing strategies that have evolved has led to a degree of confusion with regard to a coherent terminology contingent on the development of effective marketing strategies. Researchers and practitioners have primarily used the terms ‘multichannel’, ‘cross-channel’, and ‘omni-channel’ retailing to conceptualize the process of retailing that operates across more than one retail channel (Patten & Ozuem, 2017; Beck & Rygl, 2015). For example, Beck and Rygl (2015) conducted some initial research and categorized these three different terms according to the degree of customer interaction options and the degree of company integration they facilitate. Thus, cross-channel retailing can be considered an advanced stage of multichannel retailing with a higher degree of customer interaction and/or company integration. Omni-channel retailing can be considered the ultimate stage of multichannel retailing, achieving full customer interaction and/or full company integration. The complexity of conceptualization informs companies’ usage of the omni-channel marketing, leaving them with implicit marketing plans. This calls for further scholar and practitioner contribution to harness omni-channel marketing that would foreground the ‘rule of thumbs’ in strategies that lead to mutual company-provider satisfaction.
Objectives, Impact, and Value: This book aims to provide conceptualization of omni-channel marketing, providing clarity in descriptive aspects of multifarious strategies. The insight addresses the complexity on a fundamental literature basis of differentiating omni-channel marketing from multi-channel and cross-channel strategies. The book further seeks to reveal insight into the applicability of omnichannel recovery strategies, reflecting explicit plans that fashion and luxury products should use to optimize the online environment. The differences between online and offline channels will be discussed, to draw a rule of thumbs on the two. Finally, social media as an imperative part of the omni-channel will be elaborated upon, and recommendations for its forms of successful usage will be provided. The book will enhance theoretical insight in services marketing, contextualizing extant inquiry into omni-channel marketing strategies for fashion and luxury brands. The knowledge developed will increase the theoretical scope of the subject, incorporating ideas that would open a new field for future research. The contextual models recommended would support fashion and luxury providers in developing strategies that optimize the usage of omni-channel marketing. They would enhance fashion and luxury brands decision-making in omni-channel marketing explicit to brand development and customer management. This book will also conceptualize the relationship between the theory and practice of omni-channel marketing strategies in fashion and luxury brands, providing a guideline to marketing and fashion students to enhance their understanding, and aiding fashion and luxury omni-channel marketing consultants to make their cases successful. Synopsis: Related literature has explored channel integration in the context of the different elements of the retail mix (Verhoef et al., 2015). Emrich et al. (2015) investigated the implications of assortment integration by multichannel retailers. The researchers investigated three different assortment structures: substitutive, complementary, and independent assortments. They disclosed that customer perceptions of the degree of assortment integration differ across various assortment structures. Moreover, they argued that the relationship between multichannel assortment integration and patronage intentions depends on certain perceived shopping benefits, which include assortment variety, convenience and reduced risk. Technologically induced marketing environments offer a higher order of shopping, which offers streams of competing and highly differentiated brands. This environment allows dyadic modes of communication and association with customers, and consumers are able to justify their feelings about brands online through ‘Word of Mouse’. The proposed book aims to explore and advance insights into the modalities and integrations of emerging technologies in the development of marketing strategies for fashion and luxury brands.
Item Type: | Book |
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Publisher: | BrownWalker Press / Universal Publishers |
ISBN: | 9781627347402 |
Departments: | Institute of Business, Industry and Leadership > Business |
Depositing User: | Anna Lupton |
Date Deposited: | 31 Oct 2019 10:44 |
Last Modified: | 25 Apr 2024 14:57 |
URI: | https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/5206 |