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Abstract

Omnichannel marketing is often viewed as the panacea for one-to-one marketing, but this strategic path is mired with obstacles. This article investigates three challenges in realizing the full potential of omnichannel marketing: (1) data access and integration, (2) marketing attribution, and (3) consumer privacy protection. While these challenges predate omnichannel marketing, they are exacerbated in a digital omnichannel environment. This article argues that advances in machine learning and blockchain offer some promising solutions. In turn, these technologies present new challenges and opportunities for firms, which warrant further academic research. The authors identify both recent developments in practice and promising avenues for future research.

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Article first published online: October 9, 2020
Issue published: January 2021

Keywords

  1. attribution
  2. blockchain
  3. machine learning
  4. omnichannel
  5. privacy

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Notes

Tony Haitao Cui is Ecolab-Pierson M. Grieve Chair in International Marketing and Professor of Marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA (email: [email protected]). Anindya Ghose is Heinz Riehl Chair Professor of Business and Professor of Technology, Operations, and Statistics and Professor of Marketing, Stern School of Business, New York University, USA (email: [email protected]). Hanna Halaburda is Associate Professor of Technology, Operations, and Statistics, Stern School of Business, New York University, USA (email: [email protected]). Raghuram Iyengar is Miers-Busch, W’1885 Professor and Professor of Marketing, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, USA (email: [email protected]). Koen Pauwels is Professor at BI Norwegian Business School and Distinguished Professor of Marketing, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, USA (email: [email protected]). S. Sriram is Professor of Marketing and Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Faculty Fellow, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, USA (email: [email protected]). Catherine Tucker is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management Science and Professor of Marketing, MIT Sloan and Research Associate at the NBER, USA (email: [email protected]). Sriraman Venkataraman is Professor of Marketing and Edward M O’Herron Scholar, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA (email: [email protected]).
Editor’s Note: This article is part of the JM-MSI Special Issue on “From Marketing Priorities to Research Agendas,” edited by John A. Deighton, Carl F. Mela, and Christine Moorman. Written by teams led by members of the inaugural class of MSI Scholars, these articles review the literature on an important marketing topic reflected in the MSI Priorities and offer an expansive research agenda for the marketing discipline. A list of articles appearing in the Special Issue can be found at http://www.ama.org/JM-MSI-2020.

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