In recent years new technologies have increased access to information and, as a result, many channels can be used in an integrated and combined way. Omnichannel strategies have emerged in shopping which allow consumers to have integrative and holistic experiences. This trend, in addition to its influence on the general consumer, has implications for tourists who can take advantage of different channels in their costumer journeys through adopting omnichannel behaviors. Due to the importance of omnichanneling and tourist shopping, and the fact that no studies examine them in conjunction, this theoretical chapter aims to launch this research line; future research lines are presented to improve the retail sector and tourists' shopping experiences.
TopIntroduction
New technologies have changed so many aspects of our lives that it is hard to imagine being without them. The mobile phone, tablet, computer and other smart devices give us a sense of security and help us make good decisions in our daily lives. It is increasingly unusual to find someone who will take an initiative without first consulting one of these devices, which can be thought of as new extensions of ourselves. This is clearly seen in the field of shopping, where consumers take advantage of the wide variety of channels to obtain the maximum information possible, make the best decisions and share their experiences before, during and after buying products and services. In addition, at physical points of sale one sees the growth of new technological solutions (e.g., tablets, touchscreens, augmented reality, digital signals, quick response codes (QR), beacons and free Wi-Fi (Mosquera, Olarte-Pascual, Juaneda Ayensa, & Sierra Murillo, 2018)). These developments have led to the emergence of omnichannel consumers; omnichannel consumers use online (web-based) and offline channels (station-based) in an integrated manner, several at the same time, so they can apply the information they obtain in the best possible way (Rodríguez-Torrico, San José Cabezudo, & San-Martín, 2017; Yurova, Rippé, Weisfeld-Spolter, Sussan, & Arndt, 2017). On a global scale, omnichannelers access the Internet mostly through the mobile phone (52%), followed by computers (43%). Also on a global scale, the time spent searching for information with the mobile phone is 59% of the total and the use of mobile applications is at 80% (Ditrendia, 2018).
What, for some, simplifies and makes certain tasks easier, for others is an added complication. It has become practically impossible for vendors to control how consumers use the different channels available to them (Verhoef, Kannan, & Inman, 2015). This involves some rethinking and consequent reformulation of competitive strategies (Brynjolfsson, Hu, & Rahman, 2013).
A situation in which consumers use multiple channels to make their purchases is when in a touristic destination. This makes the tourist a potential omnichannel consumer. Tourists focus strongly on information searches given the high perceived risk created by their lack of destination knowledge (Coromina & Camprubí, 2016), the limited time they have available during their trips and the desire to make the best possible shopping decisions. This inclines them toward omnichanneling and, thus, worthy of study.
Understanding new trends of shopping behavior by tourists are increasingly important for countries, regions and local businesses as the purchases made by them contribute to a positive image and are a great source of income (Chang, Yang, & Yu, 2006; Jin, Moscardo, & Murphy, 2017). Shopping during tourist stays has gone from being an incidental activity to being one of the main travel motivations (Choi, Heo, & Law, 2016). The growing importance of tourist shopping for European destinations is evidenced by a total market growth of 125% in the sector in the last decade. In recent years European retailers’ sales to tourists have seen an increase of 8% (Global Blue, 2017). Retail store purchases by tourists in other major destinations worldwide average between $50 and $200 per day (Ostelea, 2019).
Although these two retail realities (omnichanneling and tourist shopping) are very important for the economy in general and for the sector in particular, there are no studies that analyze them in conjunction. This present work highlights the need to begin the empirical study of the role of omnichanneling in tourist shopping, with the aim of increasing our understanding of tourist behavior in this emerging scenario.
This chapter is organized as follows. Omnichanneling is discussed in section 2. Section 3 analyses tourist shopping and differentiates the two important concepts of this reality: shopping tourism and tourism shopping. Section 4 addresses in parallel the concepts of omnichanneling and purchases made by tourists. And section 5 presents the conclusions, implications and future research lines.