Mastering Omni-Channel Retailing Challenges with Industry 4.0 Concepts

Abstract

Omni-Channel Management is an important trend, which allows retailers to improve customer experiences. Notwithstanding, entirely seamless integration of all channels, for example, in terms of customer or pricing data or consistent product offerings, is still a challenging endeavor. Technological developments, such as Industry 4.0 (I4.0), lead to innovation opportunities in the production industry. As there are intersections between I4.0 and Omni-Channel retailing, we propose that prominent Omni-Channel retailing challenges can be overcome by integrating knowledge from both research domains. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate, which I4.0 concepts are utilized in scientific literature to overcome challenges and how these concepts can be transferred to Omni-Channel Management. To make this knowledge tangible for retailers, this article deduces opportunities on the application of I4.0 concepts in Omni-Channel retailing. The results show that especially IoT networks offer numerous deployment options and even Cyber-Physical Systems and Smart Factories provide related potentials.