Impact of organizational capabilities and industry drivers on the level of marketing channels integration

The transformation we have been witnessing in the retail industry may be attributed to several drivers, caused by technology development and changes in consumers’ behaviors (Taufik et al 2021; Duarte et al., 2018; Schoenbachler & Gordon, 2002). Two of the most important are the increasing pervasiveness of mobile phones and the development of technology (Park and Yoo, 2021; Brynjolfsson et al., 2013), both of which have resulted in changes in expectations and an increasing number of problems that need retailers’ attention (Park and Yoo, 2021; Verhoef et al., 2015). In the purchase process, customers, who have rapidly absorbed the technological innovations, are now willing to use different channels (Silva et al., forthcoming). On the offer side, however, providing an effective and integrated approach seems to be a big challenge for companies.
Channel integration has already been discussed in several studies (i.e. Jaworski, Kohli, 1996; Park et al, 2021), which led to development of research on channel evolution, mainly because marketing channels are among the
most important elements of any value chain (Krafft et al., 2015). The research results presented by Du (2018) demonstrate that there is a positive  relationship between channel diversity and the company’s profitability, on
the one hand, and a negative association between channel diversity and profit volatility, on the other hand. Both circumstances can be regarded as basic arguments for the channel evolution and introduction of an omnichannel

strategy as an alternative to a multi-channel one. Further, as observed by Lazaris and Vrechopoulos (2014), we may now be witnessing a shift from a multi-channel approach to an omni-channel approach, as a result of the more advanced integration of information and service systems and the improved coordination of the respective fragmented processes. This shift is  demonstrated by the increasing number of customers demanding a seamless ‘user journey’: from 72% in 2011 to 83% in 2016 (E-tailing Group, 2016). This is confirmed by research results indicating that 76% of managers consider an omni-channel approach a key business priority (Melero et al., 2016), even though only 32% of them find themselves effective in the coordination of different channels (Econsultancy, 2015). 

There seems to be lots of interest in the omni-channel approach on both sides of the equation (demand and supply): customers are willing to be active members of a purchasing process in which this approach is used (Silva et al., forthcoming) and, simultaneously, brands seem to be interested in the  approach and recognize that they are not as efficient as they would like to be in terms of the articulation of different channels. However, even though there is unquestionable interest in the topic from the managerial side, the literature on this topic is still scarce: omni-channel theory seems to be underdeveloped (Saghiri et al., 2017). Nevertheless, the evolution of marketing channels in retailing is gaining attention among researchers, and the important research

topics include – but are not limited to – the integration of data from various channels, organizational change, the pricing policy across various channels and the aligned management of a broad range of channels (Mirsch et al.,  2016). Yet, the research regarding managerial practice is still scarce (Beck & Rygl, 2015). (In particular, even though a holistic perspective would be highly recommended (Von Briel, 2018), there is still little evidence on the obstacles of the omni-channel approach (Picot-Coupey et al. 2016). Therefore, we aim to investigate the obstacles to full marketing channel integration; in particular, we want to understand if this approach is even possible, considering that there seem to be many problems relating to managerial fields.