Categorization of multiple channel retailing in Multi-, Cross-, and Omni‐Channel Retailing for retailers and retailing

• The use of the concepts Multi-, Cross-, and Omni-Channel in academia is blurred.
• We identify a taxonomy of multiple channel retailing based on a literature review.
• We propose the categories Multi-, Cross-, and Omni-Channel Retailing and Retailer.
• A literature classification reveals a shortage of Cross- and Omni-Channel literature.
• We illustrate a mobile Click and Collect shop as stimulus for future research.

Business experts have enthusiastically projected a seamless, retail world where customers can shop across channels, anywhere and at any time. This type of multiple channel retailing is often referred to as Omni-Channel Retailing. Within academia, by contrast, there have been proportionately fewer attempts to systematically categorize the diversity of multiple channel retailing that currently exists. Hence, the concepts Multi-, Cross-, and Omni-Channel are used indistinctly. This article proposes a categorization of Multi-, Cross-, and Omni-Channel Retailing for retailers and retailing by means of a literature review, a taxonomy of multiple channel retailing, a literature classification table, and by way of illustration, a mobile Click and Collect shop.

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