Retailers urged to operate across several channels

29th June 2009

Retailers would do well to integrate their selling operations over several different channels rather than run their e-commerce business separately, it has been advised.

A number of US retailers have suffered as a result of placing their e-commerce operations in a silo in this way and others should learn from this and look to cross-channel retailing, said Paul Marshall of Salmat DigitalForce at the Retail World Summit in Sydney.

"The internet has opened up a whole new channel for retailers to reach consumers; however, it's critical that a retailer's e-commerce business is not set up as a siloed operation," he commented, according to Dynamic Business.

This follows a poll conducted by Sterling Commerce earlier this year indicating that consumers find cross-channel retail to offer more convenience than selling through separate platforms.

Almost 60 per cent of respondents said they thought it was important to have the option to return items bought online to a physical shop, while more than one-third said it was crucial to be able to pick up products instore after ordering them on the internet.

 

Category: Ecommerce Web Design

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