Digital operational excellence in retail: a systematic review and dynamic causal framework
Nadeen Faraj, Vikas Swarnakar, Ahmad Mayyas, Evangelos Psomas, Maher MaaloufPurpose
This study examines how digital technologies integrate with Operational Excellence (OpEx) routines, including Lean Six Sigma, in retail, identifying responsive processes, benefits, evolving KPIs, enablers, barriers, and mitigation strategies, and developing a retail-specific dynamic causal framework.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of 58 peer-reviewed articles from Q1/Q2 journals (2016–2026), following PRISMA guidelines, combined publication mapping, full-text coding, and narrative synthesis to conceptualize Digital-OpEx integration in retail.
Findings
Digital-OpEx is most evident in inventory, warehousing, logistics, and e-commerce. Digital technologies provide visibility, prediction, and traceability, while OpEx routines provide standardization and continuous-improvement discipline, with implications for customer experience and revenue. KPIs shift from retrospective to real-time, predictive, system-integrated indicators. Adoption depends on digital infrastructure, leadership commitment, employee capabilities, data availability, and system integration; financial, technical, organizational, and ethical barriers persist, though phased rollout and pilot testing aid implementation.
Practical implications
The framework helps retail managers prioritize high-responsiveness processes, align OpEx routines with digital technologies, build implementation readiness, deploy real-time indicators, and apply barrier-mitigation strategies to sustain performance.
Social implications
Digital-OpEx also raises workforce, data-privacy, customer-trust, accessibility, and environmental considerations that should inform investment decisions from the outset.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study combining a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of Digital-OpEx specifically in retail, advancing a retail-specific framework and proposing testable propositions for future empirical research.