Identifying and examining the cause-effect relationships of the effective criteria of procurement time, cost and customer satisfaction in Omni-Chanel distribution network using DEMATEL

Omni-channel is a cross-channel business model that companies use to increase and improve customer relationships. Companies that use Omni-channel believe that the customer's value is the ability to continuously contact the company through multiple ways at the same time. In Omni-channel, all customer behaviors are fully predicted and supported in all communication channels and contact points, so that if during the purchase process, the customer changes direction from one communication channel to another, there will be no impact or deficiency in the result of his purchase. In this research, we seek to investigate the cause-effect relationships of the criteria affecting procurement time, cost, and customer satisfaction in Omni-channel distribution network using DEMATEL method. Therefore, by using DEMATEL’s method, the criteria affecting the causal relationships are carried out so that, in addition to the long-term planning process, it has the ability to deal with future uncertainties. According to the calculations and analysis, it was found that the criteria of product inventory, responsiveness, responsibility, communication with the customer, identification and selection of distributors, information technology capability, customer expectations, in the process of improving the procurement time, cost and customer satisfaction in Omni-channel distribution network as handicap factors can play a very effective role in attracting customers and increasing market share in competitive markets. The results showed that among the most important effective factors in improving the procurement time, cost and customer satisfaction in Omni-channel distribution network, the factors of customer return rate and government laws can be mentioned.