Managing the Customer Experience Through Retail Digitalization

Digitalization has had an all-encompassing influence on industries worldwide, with retailing being one of the most significantly affected sectors. The retail landscape has witnessed numerous changes, from the rise of pure play firms like Amazon and ASOS, to the decline and extinction of well-known household brands. This has caused brick and mortar retailers to undergo the digital transformation by implementing digital technologies, changing existing business models, and revaluating their value offering. Retailers are trying to navigate the ever-changing environment by understanding how they can use digitalization as a means to survive and thrive. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how retail digitalization is influencing the customer experience with brick and mortar retailers. In order to achieve this, I adopted a critical realist approach through taking the perspective of retail managers. As retail managers are involved in managing retail digitalization, understanding their interpretations is important in gaining a holistic understanding of this transformation. A qualitative method was employed, through which 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted with retail managers based in the UK and Finland. The managers shared their insights on how their firms are responding to the changes presented by digitalization and the subsequent influence on the customer experience. This study utilised qualitative content analysis, a process which involved in-vivo coding to interpret the data set. During the interviews, retail managers discussed various challenges and opportunities that are presented by retail digitalization. These issues were analysed across the data sample, leading to the creation of four sub-categories that expressed how digitalization has influenced the customer experience, these included, 1) changing buying behaviour, 2) rising customer expectations, 3) integrating customer touchpoints, and 4) increasing levels of competition. Further analysis was conducted, resulting in new interpretations of the data, showing the main drivers of retail digitalization to be external, namely, by the customer and the market. The findings of this study indicate that retail managers are aware of the profound effects of retail digitalization. Retail managers detailed that the transition into the digital age presents many opportunities for brick and mortar retailers to improve the customer-retailer relationship, better understand customer needs, and increase interaction with their customers. The managerial implications of this study are summarized as follows, retail managers should 1) adopt an outside-in approach , 2) ensure that their stores have basic digital tools in place to remain competitive, and 3) trial new technologies to minimize risk and optimize their chances of successful technology implementation