New article on Omnichannel Business published in Electronic Markets

What is the current state of research on omnichannel business? How can we characterize the differences between omnichannel and multichannel? What are the unique characteristics of omnichannel that can help contextualize and position new research? What are exemplary issues the arise from those unique characteristics and what challenges require further studies by information systems researchers and beyond? An article by Christiane Lehrer and Manuel Trenz titled “Omnichannel Business” provides answers to those questions and has been published in the "Electronic Markets" journal.

Abstract: The widespread diffusion of digital technologies along with evolving consumer behaviors and requirements have fostered the emergence of omnichannel businesses, i.e., firms that can exploit integrated processes and information systems to realize a seamless and consistent consumer experience across a plenitude of digital and physical channels. To date, omnichannel research has been cluttered and characterized by significant terminological ambiguity that creates unnecessary challenges for researchers and markeeters trying to navigate and advance research and practice in this area. This fundamentals article seeks to address this problem by presenting a definition of omnichannel business that is grounded in its unique characteristics involving technology, organizational, and market perspectives and clearly distinguishes omnichannel from other terms, such as multi-channel or cross-channel. We leverage this conceptual clarity to analyze and structure the previous research on omnichannel business and conclude with an integrated framework that signifies fields of interest for future omnichannel business research.

Further information

Reference: Lehrer, C., and Trenz, M. 2022. “Omnichannel Business,” Electronic Markets (32), pp. 687-699. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-021-00511-1).
Link: https://www.springer.com/journal/12525
About the journal: Electronic Markets is an important international journal in the research field of Information Systems. The journal is rated B by the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) in JOURQUAL3 (Impact factor 6.017 (2021)).