Exploring the Role of Omni-Channel Retailing Technologies: Empirical Insights and Future Research Directions

Technological advances allow the development of an omnichannel strategy to create a seamless experience for customers. This study has adopted a systematic literature review approach to examine, synthesize, and extend a body of literature in the area of omnichannel retailing and the role of technology, taking into account both retailers’ and customers’ perspectives. We review 499 research papers to highlight the evolution of omnichannel research with a special focus on technology usage. After extracting the key theoretical foundations underpinning technology-empowered omnichannel retailing, we synthesize the empirical findings and identify emerging topics from the customer perspective including customer value, customer experience, showrooming and web rooming, and customer privacy concerns as well as the key themes from the retailer perspective consisting of channel integration, personalization, and resource challenges. Based on the knowledge from the theoretical and empirical insights, we develop three important future research areas to inspire further studies in this domain.