Assortment Integration and Multi-Channel Performance: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry

The digital transformation of the restaurant industry is reshaping traditional business models, particularly in the fast-food sector, through the integration of online and offline channels. While channel integration has been extensively studied in retail industries, its application in the restaurant sector remains underexplored, particularly given the industry's unique operational realities such as demand variability during peak hours, product perishability, and shared resource capacity. Leveraging a rich dataset from a leading restaurant chain’s online and offline channels, this study identifies two mechanisms through which assortment integration influences multi-channel performance. First, the channel complementary effect shows how integration encourages offline customers to adopt online channels as complementary dining options. Second, the uncertainty reduction effect highlights how online product information enables customers to make more informed offline dining decisions. Empirical results confirm that assortment integration significantly increases order volumes in both channels while revealing temporal boundaries during peak dining periods. These findings extend the channel integration literature by addressing the distinct features of the restaurant industry and providing actionable insights for optimizing multi-channel strategies.