The Effect of Multichannel and Omnichannel Retailing on Physical Stores
研究了多渠道或全渠道零售商如何决定实体店的数量和规模，发现线上退货率、便利性以及三种全渠道策略（展示厅、退货灵活性和履约灵活性）会显著影响实体店的配置。
Most retailers today sell products through an online channel in addition to traditional physical stores. We investigate how such a multichannel or omnichannel retailer should decide the number and size of physical stores. We show that a higher return rate for online purchases can incentivize the retailer to have fewer physical stores that are larger in size. As online shopping becomes more convenient, a retailer may prefer to have more physical stores that are smaller in size. We also study the effect of three popular omnichannel strategies that involve changes of the physical stores’ functions: (i) showrooms only display products for customers to inspect before they purchase online, removing fulfillment from physical stores; (ii) return flexibility expands the functionality of physical stores by allowing customers to return online orders at them; and (iii) fulfillment flexibility expands functionality by allowing customers to pick up products purchased online at physical stores. We show that when the physical stores are given fewer (more) functions, as with the showroom (return or fulfillment flexibility) strategy, the omnichannel retailer may find it optimal to increase (reduce) the number and/or size of the physical stores. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.