Vendor Selection: Take the Holistic Approach

Good, integrated data allows you to do the following:

• determine who your customers are and how to market to them;
• assess your business, which products sell, when and at what price points;
• measure the success of promotions and loyalty programs;
• evaluate the success of search engine optimization, search engine marketing, catalog, print and other advertising;
• manage customer orders, fulfillment, customer satisfaction; and
• track inventory in your stores, online and your warehouse.

These bullet points relate to your whole business, not to just one channel. Any technology or service provider looking at your data from a strictly online perspective is doing you and your business a disservice, which will cost you.