As retailers look to fuse existing operational silos in favour of an omnichannel strategy, the role of IT is increasingly recognized as critical to achieving seamless and integrated retail experiences.

Omnichannel retailing combines the bricks and clicks aspects of retail, allowing for multiple, easily accessible retail touchpoints or channels. At the same time, it can effortlessly customize the  customer interface, based on their past purchases and preferences.

Key Considerations for Omnichannel Retail Success

• Integration: Aspiring omnichannel retailers seeking to connect inventory, supply-chain, order management & distribution, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), marketing and Point of Sale (PoS) systems are likely to face back-office technology integration challenges as traditionally these operational functions have worked autonomously. Yet centralizing these systems is key in achieving an omnichannel strategy. Currently there exists a disconnect between internal technology and business functions. Therefore retailers must align the capabilities of its IT assets with overall business strategy.