Multichannel orders muddy the waters; matchbacks are your chlorine

By Mark Swedlund

So, catalogers vigorously debate whether they need to mail as many (or any) catalogs to online buyers as to others. Pure e-commerce companies, such as Amazon.com, Zappos.com, eBay and others, develop offline mailing programs and then strive to determine the payoff from those efforts.

Retail Makes It Cloudier
Multichannel marketers with robust retail chains also struggle to determine how much of their Web and catalog ad spending can be properly allocated to store sales. Even companies like AT&T try to optimize hundreds of millions in media spend over outlets that range from the lowly bill insert to sponsorship of the Olympics. Their goal, just like more traditional catalogers, is to drive orders to their Web sites and call centers.