Omnichannel

It's hard to say what shopping will look like in 10 years, or even 10 months, but it's probably safe to say that we'll still do the majority of it in brick-and-mortar stores. Which stores we choose for that shopping trip will vary by day of week, occasion and myriad other factors. The bottom line is that the utilitarian ideal of the "best for the most" is irrelevant in a world awash in individualism. It's been a wild time since that first iPhone, and there's no sign of stability yet. Product assortment is more important than store size, and someone who can actually help with advice and ideas is better than free shipping.

Retailers today seek to deliver an inspiring, seamless brand experience to consumers across all channels — online, in-store, mobile, call centers and social media. For consumers, the promise of omnichannel retailing is a consistent brand experience based on easy, fast access to the information they need and the products and offers they want.

lululemon athletica, the yoga-inspired athletic apparel company, released a new mobile shopping application this fall designed to give its users a faster and more convenient way to shop via their iPhone (the app is available for free in the App Store).

One Kings Lane, a flash-sales site for high-end home goods, has taken a different approach to building a high-quality affiliate program. Its solution is to block coupon, loyalty or any other nonbrand relevant sites from its affiliate program. This puts all affiliates on a level playing field, making the program very attractive to those affiliates who

As another year comes to a close, it's time for my annual roundup of omnichannel retail predictions for the year ahead. As in year's past, I'm focusing on a few interesting trends I saw come to light this year that I believe will become even more widespread next year.

Marketing and customer service teams are typically at the forefront of managing customer engagement, but the relationship goes much deeper than that within a retail organization. These five "critical connections" show how teams such as call centers, shipping and fulfillment, and operations can have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and avoid losing valuable customers which are critical to fueling the business:

A Black Friday sale at a big-box retailer is a dance that needs a master choreographer. As shoppers glide through aisles, lunge after merchandise and dart urgently in and out of line, there's an art to keeping them moving and happy. At the Best Buy in Alexandria, Va., that job belongs to Rob Delissio. And this year the store's general manager has left no detail to chance. 

To appeal to the growing demands of the hyperconnected consumer, retailers are rushing to establish additional sales and marketing channels to support their growing omnichannel initiatives. However, successful omnichannel strategies require more than simply adding additional channels or relying on well-written product descriptions. In order to remain competitive, retailers now understand that informative and complete product information is instrumental in delivering a superior shopping experience.

Retailers need to think beyond Mobile Monday by putting the mobile channel at the center of their digital strategy year-round. More than any other channel, mobile offers real-time access to shoppers in a highly personal manner through a device that consumers increasingly have with them at all times. Mobile can provide near-real-time insight into consumers’ shopping behavior on their phone, their proximity to stores and their preferred channel of mobile communication, whether that's through a mobile-optimized website, branded app, email or text message.

Wal-Mart is making Black Friday a weeklong event, shifting away from the chaotic one-day sales that once epitomized the day after Thanksgiving. The "New Black Friday" will include five days of sales on Walmart.com and in stores, starting at 12:01 a.m. online on Thanksgiving and running through Cyber Monday, the Bentonville, Ark.-based company said in a statement today. "Black Friday has become Black Friday week," Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart's chief merchandising officer, told reporters yesterday. "Our customers want to shop when they want to shop so we're trying to expand the times and product availability with them."