Omnichannel

I'm here to see the doc, um, I mean the retailer. How many times in your life have you heard that phrase uttered? Exactly, zero. But that may be changing if AT&T's latest innovation proves successful and goes mainstream.

After years of beefing up their e-commerce engines, traditional merchants are now waking up to omnichannel retailing, recognizing that the meat and potatoes of their business is still their existing fleet of physical stores. They're creating ways to bridge the gap between the virtual and in-store experience, introducing purchasing paradigms that are nudging consumers to upend the way they've shopped since time immemorial.

Webrooming is the practice of researching products online before going to a brick-and-mortar store for a final evaluation and purchase. For retailers, webrooming presents opportunities to provide shoppers with information they expect to receive online (e.g., product information, pricing, peer reviews, etc.), while maintaining control over the customer journey by showcasing the physical store experience as the consumer's final destination.

Talking about omnichannel is very fashionable for retailers nowadays. At a high level, the concepts behind providing great customer experience across channels are easy to understand. However, those in the business know that executing on a great omnichannel strategy is pretty challenging. Omnichannel retailers are acutely aware of three key trends that are heavily influencing the industry today:

“Omnichannel” is one of the hottest buzzwords in the retail industry. Yet while everyone is talking omnichannel, relatively few brands

Target is the latest retailer heading to the Silicon Valley to develop its omnichannel business. The mass merchandise retailer announced the

Picture this anxiety-provoking scenario: you're at an all-day conference, sweating bullets as you prep for a presentation in an hour's time. But you packed in haste and left your laptop charger at home. Your battery capacity is perilously close to zero. You don't have time to dash to Best Buy and you wouldn't dare ask a fellow presenter for a favor lest you show your hand. eBay knows its customers (including you, the disheveled executive) and has been quietly working on a solution for this thoroughly modern conundrum. The eBay Now app allows

CrossView Inc., a provider of e-commerce solutions and services, yesterday released the results of its 2013 Cross-Channel Readiness study. Out of a possible 295 points, the 80 retailers studied averaged a score of

Among the highlights of the first Sears Holdings shareholder meeting since Edward Lampert became chairman and CEO were details on the company's progress in combining its brick-and-mortar and online businesses. Sears, which operates the Kmart mass merchandise chain, uses the term "integrated retail" to refer to the integration of its businesses, noting half of its online business comes from customers buying online and picking up in-store or ordering in-store to have it shipped home.

In the heart of Silicon Valley, Amazon.com veterans are trying to disrupt the experience of shopping in a store. Former Amazon supply chain Vice President Nadia Shouraboura, who launched the Hointer Inc. clothing company in Seattle last year, is set to open a store in Palo Alto, Calif., on May 1. But there's a digital twist: The new store, like all Hointer shops, will have almost no salespeople. It will also change its prices dynamically to prevent the increasingly common practice of consumers browsing in stores, only to buy from online retailers who offer the same goods for less.