Operations in an Omnichannel World

Santiago  Gallino; Antonio  Moreno

Book | 2019

Operations in an Omnichannel World

by Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

Abstract

The world of retailing has changed dramatically in the past decade. Sales originating at online channels have been steadily increasing, and even for sales transacted at brick-and-mortar channels, a much larger fraction of sales is affected by online channels in different touch points during the customer journey. Shopper behavior and expectations have been evolving along with the growth of digital channels, challenging retailers to redesign their fulfillment and execution processes, to better serve their customers. This edited book examines the challenges and opportunities arising from the shift towards omnichannel retail. We examine these issues through the lenses of operations management, emphasizing the supply chain transformations associated with fulfilling an omnichannel demand. The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, “Omnichannel business models,” we present four studies that explore how retailers are adjusting their fundamental business models to the new omnichannel landscape. The second part, “Data-driven decisions in an omnichannel world,” includes five chapters that study the evolving data opportunities enabled by omnichannel retail and present specific examples of data-driven analyses. Finally, in the third part, “Case studies in omnichannel retailing,” we include four studies that provide a deep dive into how specific industries, companies, and markets are navigating the omnichannel world. Ultimately, this book introduces the reader to the fundamentals of operations in an omnichannel context and highlights the different innovative research ideas on the topic using a variety of methodologies.

Keywords: omnichannel; omnichannel retail; retail; operations; Operations; Management; Supply Chain Management; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation;

Format: Print

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Citation:

Gallino, Santiago, and Antonio Moreno, eds. Operations in an Omnichannel World. Vol. 8, Springer Series in Supply Chain Management. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2019.

In 2010, amidst the growth of ecommerce and the emergence of new, purely online, fashion players, Zara launched its first online store, Zara.com. Since then, Zara’s online business had grown at a fast pace. By 2018, 12% of Inditex Group’s total sales came from the online channel. Since the inception of the first online store, Inditex leadership wanted its online and offline businesses to be integrated. However, the increase of online orders challenged some of its operations. Inditex was committed to the vision of becoming fully-integrated, fully-digital, and fully-sustainable by 2020. How could stores continue to be relevant in a world with increasing presence of online touchpoints? What should the store portfolio look like in the medium term? How should Zara use and advance the integrated model going forward? What other challenges and opportunities would arise with the increase of online sales?

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Operations in an Omnichannel World

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