ENHANCING CONVENIENCE MARKETING WITHIN THE OMNI-CHANNEL CONCEPT IN DIGITAL ERA

Abstract

Convenience marketing deals with consumers’ time, effort and comfort in shopping experiences. The omni-channel concept that emerged together with advances in digital technology enables customers to interact with retailers through numerous touch points in integrated online and offline channels. From the marketing perspective the omni-channel concept enhances the adoption of customer-centric attitude achieving a real ‘convenience’ to buy within the 4Cs marketing mix strategy, further developed towards ‘access’ in the S.A.V.E model and explicitly named as ‘omni-channel’ within the S.T.O.P. model. The optimization of the retailing performance across all available channels aimed at achieving an utmost convenience for the consumer appears to be a central point of the omni-channel approach. The aim of this paper is to examine the convenience perspective within the omni-channel concept in digital era. We report findings of our primary quantitative research focused on the omni-channel consumer behaviour across different generational segments in view of channel usage, purchase drivers and convenience shopping preferences. E-survey based on a standardized questionnaire was conducted. The questionnaire consisted of twenty-six questions and comprised open-ended questions, closed-ended questions, multiple choice questions, bipolar 5-points Likert-scale questions and socio-demographic questions. The demography involved gender, age, region and gross income. The sampling method included random selection without repetition. The basic set was an online panel with the size of n = 19 913 people with a high degree of compatibility with the total population of the Slovak Republic. Overall, 2615 panel members were randomly selected and contacted by e-mail applying an automatized message distribution. In total, 523 valid questionnaires were gathered. The final sample consisted of 46 % males and 54 % females. With respect to the generational segments, it comprised respondents from Generation Z (11 %), Generation Y (29 %), Generation X (41 %), and Baby Boomers (19 %). Data collection was carried out in cooperation with GfK agency and processed via Microsoft Excel and statistical software SPSS applying a numerical coding. Descriptive and inductive statistics comprising simple frequencies, pairwise comparisons, point estimate in the basic set, and Chi-Square test were used. Our research was based on the concept of convenience that emphasizes the access to the product in the most convenient way for consumers. Due to the massive penetration of personal digital devices and growing consumers’ reliance on them during shopping the nowadays convenience marketing must rely on multiple channels, comprising physical channels, online channels and their combinations. Our research revealed that over 50 % of respondents use from two to three channels within their shopping routine. This trend naturally leads to the adoption of the omni-channel strategy in retailing which enables customers to interact with retailers through numerous touch points in multiple channels. Nowadays, especially the usage of online channels is connected with the perception of convenience by consumers. In our research, around one third of respondents (32 % with preference in physical shopping / 43 % with preference in online shipping) explicitly related the convenience to the online shopping. Actually, the convenience was listed as the second most important driver for online shopping. Traditional channels – which were initially threatened by the rise of digital era – have been increasingly embracing the convenience through the in-store digital technology. Our research revealed that 60% of respondents use their personal digital devices during visiting the physical store. In-store digital convenience tools often operate through mobile applications. Research data showed that over 50 % of respondents have at least one retail mobile app in their personal digital device. Our findings suggest that the omni-channel shopping behaviour has been gradually adopted by consumers in dependence on their shopping preferences (physical vs. online shopping), age (generations Z, Y, X, Baby Boomers) and digital lifestyle (daily internet usage). Not surprisingly, younger generations are among the first digital integrators. Customers with extensive technological knowledge and frequent internet users tend to be more innovative shoppers in term of multi-channel behaviour and digital convenience tools used during the in-store shopping.