Implementing ‘e-Value’ Strategies in UK Retailing

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the current strategic landscape of UK “bricks and clicks” retailers. The main focus of this work is to consider how e-commerce may provide competitive advantage via an insight into the current strategies employed by UK retailers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses both secondary and primary data analysis to explore its research questions. The paper begins with an overview of the e-strategy literature and then goes on to examine the key areas of e-value creation for bricks and clicks companies. Next an analysis of the results of a survey of the UK's top 500 retailers tests the existing literature and provides new evidence of emerging e-strategies. Findings – The data analysis in this research reveals significant gaps between theory and practice and leads to the development of a new model of business “e-value-added”. Research limitations/implications – It is difficult to generalise the findings from this survey, given the small number of respondents. Further in-depth qualitative research is needed to enable us to understand better the organisational issues around e-commerce development and implementation. Practical implications – It is suggested that, in order to exploit the internet to its full potential, legacy retailers need to analyse a variety of situational antecedents in order to identify e-value creation opportunities. In addition, they must consider whether integration or separation with bricks and clicks operations will deliver the best solution in each value-adding interface. Originality/value – This research offers a new insight into current e-tail strategies for bricks and clicks businesses, and as such is likely to be of interest to academics and practitioners alike.