E-commerce Insights: Multichannel Planning Is a Complex Endeavor

The tremendous economic importance of their active buyer files caused many catalogers to overestimate the loyalty of these customers. The rise of e-commerce and paid search totally has changed the concept of customer loyalty. In years past, a retailer’s catalog might be the only exposure a household received to merchandise in a particular category. No longer. The Internet puts every SKU in front of every consumer. In the age of the Web and Wal-Mart, customer loyalty is hard-won, rare and easily lost.