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A Persona-Driven Conceptual Framework for Omnichannel Market Entry in Emerging Asian Retail

Chifum Ann Ukadike, Adaobi Vivian Ibeh

Abstract

Retailers entering emerging Asian markets confront a paradox. These markets are among the fastest growing arenas for digitally mediated consumption in the world, yet they remain highly heterogeneous in their channel infrastructure, payment behaviour, logistics maturity, and consumer expectations. Conventional internationalization theory explains the sequencing and commitment logic of foreign entry, while the omnichannel literature explains how integrated channels create a seamless customer experience. The two bodies of work have developed in parallel and rarely speak to each other, and neither offers an operational mechanism for translating granular consumer heterogeneity into channel and entry decisions. This article addresses that gap by developing a persona-driven conceptual framework that positions the data- grounded customer persona as the central translation device linking market knowledge to channel architecture and to entry mode selection. The framework is organized as three interacting layers, a persona construction layer, a channel orchestration layer, and an entry mode and commitment layer, conditioned by institutional and infrastructural moderators that are especially salient across emerging Asian economies. A set of testable propositions specifies how persona fidelity, channel integration quality, and incremental commitment jointly shape entry performance. The framework reframes the customer persona from a tactical design artifact into a strategic instrument of market entry, offering a structured vocabulary for aligning consumer insight with the staged, relationship dependent reality of expansion into emerging Asian retail. The article closes with implications for theory and practice and an agenda for empirical validation.

Keywords

omnichannel retailing; customer personas; market entry; internationalization; emerging Asian markets; channel integration; conceptual framework

References

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