Factors that Affect the Strategic Choice of Sales Channels : A Study of the Swedish Clothing Retail Industry

Abstract: The clothing retail industry has developed globally and is today one of the world’s largest industries. In recent years, Sweden has developed a competitive fashion industry, where the new trend in e-commerce is clear. Since e-commerce is a suitable strategy for rapid growth, it is especially important for managers to understand the impact e-commerce has on their businesses. To be able to have the ability to survive in the long-term industrial competitiveness, firms have to continuously improve their knowledge base about the factors that must be considered when choosing sales channels in the clothing retail industry. In this master thesis we have studied and analysed factors that must be considered when choosing sales channels. A literature review was done, where eleven initial factors that affect the choice of sales channels were identified. Thereafter, to conduct a comprehensive empirical study, we conducted eight case studies with semi-structured interviews with companies in the Swedish clothing retail industry, founded no longer than approximately a decade ago to cover the recent developments in the industry. The empirical study resulted in that six factors from the literature were reinforced and that four new factors were identified. These ten final factors were thereafter analysed from two main perspectives: company focus and consumer focus. Finally, the impact of the final factors on the three different sales channels; online, brick-and-mortar and retailing, was discussed. The ten final factors are: Marketing and Customer Loyalty, High Costs, Customer Behaviour, Outsourcing or Insourcing, Managerial Productivity, Intangibility and Tangibility, Fill a Gap, Customer Experience Control, Spread of Distribution and Type of Assortment. Our contribution to previous research is that this study has a more distinct company focus, and due to the development of e-commerce this study has captured the new characteristics of the industry.