Towards omni-channel marketing: state of advancement in the B2B domain

The ongoing digitalization process and the proliferation of new technologies are opening new scenarios in the marketing landscape, providing customers with the possibility to interact with brands everywhere, anytime, and using multiple touchpoints. By relying on digital technologies to support traditional channels, companies have revolutionized the way customer enjoy their journey with brands, shifting towards the development of multiple channel strategies or, more generally, multi-channel strategies. In the last few years, researchers are also proposing omni-channel management as a new approach based on a complete integration and interaction between channels in order to guarantee a seamless and frictionless customer experience. However, despite the B2C domain is moving rapidly towards the achievement of cross-channel synergies and the development of omni-channel strategies, it appears to not be the same in business-to-business relationships, where integration processes aimed at creating an omni-channel environment have not ran at the same pace as in B2C, thus determining a general disinterest by academic researchers. This study examines the state of advancement of multiple channel strategies in the B2B domain, analyzing the cases of some companies operating in the production and distribution of hard cheeses and, in particular, of the P.D.O. product †œParmigiano Reggiano†�.