Multichannel Management: Structure Determined by Measurement and Allocation

One of the most difficult things about operating a multichannel retail company is channel measurement and allocation. That’s what a panel of marketers concluded during a session at last week’s National Retail Federation conference in New York.

“Everything in online retailing is measurable,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, senior analyst for Forrester Research, in describing some of the key multichannel marketing issues. “You know which e-mail drove a customer to your site. But you don’t really know what multichannel behavior among customers is when you don’t know where customers started a transaction and where they completed it.”