Investigation and Analysis of Omnichannel Logistics Models: A Study in The Electronic Retail Industry in Indonesia

The retail industry has undergone several transformations over the years. There are three types of retail channel from a logistical perspective. The first type is single-channel logistics, where retail traders operate one sales channel, and the logistic system is dedicated for one channel. The second type is multi-channel logistics, where retail traders use several channels, such as store and direct sales. The third type is omni-channel logistics, where retail buyers and traders do not differentiate channels. Shared logistics management is usually available through e-commerce and online sales. The objectives of this research are to investigate the retail transformation trend from offline retail traders to multi/omni-channel logistics and identification of suitable business strategy. Empirical quantitative approach is conducted in the form of a survey, which collected 114 data from electronic retailers. The data consists of 70 retail stores with offline and online stores and the other 44 respondents are retail stores with only offline stores. The result of the analysis shows that most retail transactions are offline transactions where buyers have to go to the retail stores to claim their products. However, there is sufficient empirical evidence that, in terms of financial performance, retailers that use multi-channel logistics have the best financial performance, followed by omni-channel and offline stores only. Three critical factors have been identified to contribute to the total retail sales increase. Firstly, price discrimination in product delivery, secondly, the existence of dedicated resources (space and staff) that are optimally used in terms of work time efficiency and buyer service, and thirdly, the ability for consumers to see every goods or stocks in all retail shops/warehouses.