Returns on Omnichannel Marketing. Towards a holistic framework to manage and measure Omnichannel strategy's success in the premium fashion industry

Master's Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 1,0, Cologne University of Applied Sciences, language: English, abstract: The digital revolution has led to undisputable and irreversible changes in the way we experience everyday life. This applies especially to our shopping experiences. With the increasing number of sales channels and omnipresent, easy-to-reach information, people have grown to be the best informed customers who have ever existed. To accommodate these changes in the business context, companies have to change their traditional push-based, brand-centric view to one recognizing and catering to an economy of connected experiences that are equally owned by company and customer. This integrated brand experience is referred to as omnichannel experience. Omnichannel marketing means that companies now need to provide a seamless shopping experience across channels, allowing their customers to switch between devices and the physical preference whenever and however they like. This work raised the hypothesis that today, many premium fashion companies are still struggling to offer seamless and engaging omnichannel experiences, because they lack a holistic measurement framework including future-oriented KPIs - due to legacy systems and departments' silo perspectives. The contribution to this article is twofold. First, it consists of a review of existing literature on the subject. Second, to leverage the significance and implication of this current topic, interviews with seven leading industry experts were conducted. The gained insights were interwoven with the thesis' literature review and support the work's findings and statements. About the author: Insa Schniedermeier is a Senior Associate Marketing Strategy & Analysis based out of Sapient Nitro's Cologne office. She has worked within different industries with focus on consumer goods and retail, developing digital experience strategies for Fortune 500/ DAX 30 companies. Insa's breadth of experience includes customer, market and trend research, (digital) strategy development, and project and product management.