Break Down Your Barriers to Multichannel Success

6. Devise cross-channel inventory planning. “We found there was a big disconnect of inventory in stores vs. catalog,” Van Sickle said. “For instance, we weren’t getting enough products for special store promotions. So we made the merchandising team responsible for both the catalog and the Web with one big inventory picture. As a result, our inventory turns improved, and we didn’t have redundant inventory. If something didn’t sell well at one channel, we simply shipped it off to another, which became a really efficient method.”