DEFINING THE OMNICHANNEL RETAILING STRATEGY OF THE CONTEMPORARY MALE FASHION

For many years, the only way to purchase a fashion item was to buy it in physical stores. Yet, after a period of mail order catalogues and later on, successful web stores, the role of this traditional, offline retail environment was questionable. Hence, why would men put effort in purchasing a product, when it can also be brought to them? In other words, isn’t the transformation from the ‘physical’ to the ‘digital’ simply a case of ‘creative destruction’ as defined by Schumpeter (2003), in which old traditions are replaced by new, more efficient innovations? This thesis engages in this debate by proposing a novel, omnichannel perspective. This perspective emphasizes the co-existence of multi retailing channels in a holistic strategy, in which individual strengths accumulate to an interdependent business model that meets the preferences of every single customer. In addition, omnichannel fashion retailing ends the discussion regarding which channel ‘wins’; altogether, they significantly outperform the individual. Based on a mixed methodological case study of Suitsupply’s supply and demand side, a first definition of the contemporary omnichannel male fashion store is provided, bridging the previous gap between knowledge from the past and prospects of the future. The ‘present’ shows that – despite the current limited role of mobile devices – omnichannel retailing is recognized and to some extent incorporated in the visions of both Suitsupply employees and customers. The results of this thesis strongly indicate, that the offline male fashion store retains its number one preferred position with respect to purchase-oriented visits, while the web store predominantly functions as a complementary orientation-channel’. In other words, despite apparent ‘online and mobile’ innovations in current-day retailing business models, so-called creative destruction of the traditional male fashion store turns out to be limited. Instead, - to put it in Nakamura’s (2000) terms - this research emphasizes the presence of changes in existing fashion retailing recipes, rather than the creation of new, digital ones. These insights form a modest starting point for future research, for which fellow-students and scholars are cordially invited to proceed.