Multi-channel retail integration efforts, stalled in 2003 by an uncertain political and economic environment, took off again last year, according to data from Shop.org and Forrester Research’s State of Online Retailing 8.0.
On the customer-facing side, most retailers operating in multiple channels are now promoting one channel in another, the report found. Almost all—92% of those surveyed—included URLs on in-store materials in 2004, up from 77% a year earlier. 85% promoted URL in catalogs and 81% did so in circulars and mailers. Two-thirds of the retailers reported that catalog and in-store staff collect e-mail addresses from customers, while more than half reported that store and catalog staff promote the web site to customers.
Two-thirds of multichannel retailers accepted printed online coupons in stores last year, up from only 46% the previous year. 45% allowed consumers to buy and redeem gift cards both online and in-stores, up from 30% a year earlier. Nearly one-quarter of multichannel retailers offered in-store product availability online last year. In stores, one-quarter of multichannel retailers allowed shoppers to place online orders from kiosks, while 24% had web-enabled kiosks in stores to support registries. One-fifth of the retailers surveyed reported having web-enabled POS machines in stores.
On the back end, 78% of multichannel retailers said they had integrated inventory management systems and inventory visibility across channels last year, up from 84% in 2003. 61% had deployed a unified customer database that allows them to link cross-channel purchases to individual customers, up from 55% the previous year.
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