INFLUENCE OF MULTICHANNEL SUPPLY CHAINS NETWORKS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED RETAIL FASHION OUTLETS IN NAIROBI
Margaret Kinyanjui
Masters Student, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
ABSTRACT
While a lot has changed in world, retail has not changed. It’s about attention to detail and focusing on the customer. Rising consumer expectations and growing use of smart phones, online platforms, websites and tablets is putting more pressure on retailers to keep up with the changing environment. According to Booz & Company survey (2010), 68 percent of Web users like to do side-by-side (and site-by-site) product comparisons on the Internet before making purchases, and 49 percent feel that it is important to be able to order online and pick up the items in a store EI (2012). These features just hint at what consumers increasingly expect from retailers through multiple channels, a wish list that includes access to a wide swath of products online and more conveniently. The general objective of this study was to investigate the influence of multichannel retailing networks on the performance of selected fashion retail outlets, and specific objectives used to determine the influence included the following; the shopping experience, organizational structure realignment, distribution channels infrastructure and assessing the weight on sources of capital The researcher used a descriptive research design, and adopted a stratified random sampling technique from the target population, as well as carried out a pilot study to pretest and validate the questionnaire. Regression analysis models were used to find out the importance of each of the four variables with reverence to the influence of multichannel retailing networks on the performance of selected fashion outlets in Nairobi. Data analysis revealed that shopping experience was important in explaining performance. This is supported by a p value of 0.01 which means that shopping experience is a statistically significant predictor of performance. Findings also revealed that distribution channel was among the very most important predictor in determining performance as demonstrated by a p value of 0.00 and a beta coefficient of 0.468.this implied that distribution channel was a statistically significant predictor of performance. Findings also indicated that organization structure also was another very important predictor in determining performance as demonstrated by a p value of 0.000 and a beta coefficient of 0.352. Findings reveal that capital was important in explaining performance. This was supported by a p value of 0.03 and a beta coefficient of 0.107 which means that capital was a statistically significant predictor of performance. The study recommends that the retail Associations of Kenya need to conduct a market survey in order to establish the optimal shopping experience levels in order to reach out to more customers’ and hence achieve high performance.
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