Open AccessRetailing 4.0: The New Era of E-commerce in Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Author(s) -
Edoardo Fornari,
Sebastiano Grandi,
Daniele Fornari
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
symphonya
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1593-0319
pISSN - 1593-0300
DOI - 10.4468/2018.02.07
Subject(s) - business , profit (economics) , e commerce , commerce , position (finance) , marketing , fast moving consumer goods , channel (broadcasting) , supply chain , retail sales , online business , work (physics) , industrial organization , core (optical fiber) , advertising , the internet , economics , telecommunications , engineering , computer science , microeconomics , finance , mechanical engineering , world wide web
The arrival of the online channel has initiated a new cycle in competitiveness among retailers characterized by shoppers’ increasing nomadism around physical and digital touch points. The present work adopts a supply-side analytical approach to highlight drivers and perspectives of e-commerce development within the grocery sector. Research results emphasize that: (i) online-native retailers hold a well-established position of leadership worldwide and thus fundamentally influence e-grocery dynamics as a whole; (ii) the e-commerce channel is characterized by profit margins that are significantly lower than store-based channel ones. This represents the main limitation to online grocery sales growth, above all for offline-native retailers who maintain core business in their bricks & mortar stores.