Making Cross-Channel Inventory Management Work

The Internet is proving to be a powerful cross-channel shopping, marketing and loyalty vehicle—for multi-channel retailers smart enough to figure out how to make it work. From its inception nearly five years ago, FamousFootwear.com has allowed the retail chain's customers to check store inventories to find which nearby store is stocking the shoe they're looking for. And it recently updated its cross-channel inventory management system to make the experience even better—allowing customers to shop online for shoes based on what's in inventory in 930 stores and not just on what's in stock at web site's warehouse. West Marine, with 400 stores, recently implemented a program that allows customers to check store inventory. Lisa Dyson of Famous Footwear will talk about the challenges Famous Footwear faced in creating cross-channel inventory availability, the benefits it has received, what kinds of customers are most likely to use the service and what it got from its recent improvements. Tony Gasparich of West Marine will talk about the challenges that West Marine had to overcome and what benefits it has derived from the new program.