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By Matt Pillar, Editor, Retail Solutions Online and Integrated Solutions For Retailers magazine

For a few years now, there's been a lot of talk about cross-channel integration, or the disassembling of channel-specific silos of data and the dismantling of disparate, often redundant systems that run each retail channel. But with the exception of a few agile midmarket and smaller retailers and a handful of well-financed mega-retailers, there's been little in the way of movement to that end. That appears to be changing, specifically in the areas of inventory management and visibility, order management, and promotions.

Last week I talked with Rudy Pataro, chief technology officer for Fry, Inc, the e-commerce platform division of MICROS Retail. Fry boasts some heavy brands in its portfolio, names like Levi's, Whirlpool, Eddie Bauer and The Home Depot. Fry had made a name for itself some time ago as an e-commerce enabler, but since its acquisition last year by MICROS it's become a cross-channel evangelist.

Pataro and I discussed the retail industry's adoption of cross-channel systems, specifically those related to merchandise information presentation, inventory visibility, order gathering, and order routing. "Six years ago people were talking about it," says Pataro, "But in the past three years retailers have begun doing it." In fact, he estimates that 25% of Fry's customers, which represent a fair cross-section of retail segments and sizes, are actively engaged in cross-channel integration efforts to this end. Another 25%, he says, have it on their short-term roadmaps.

Common Points Of Channel Integration
Leading retailers with direct-to-consumer channels (catalog, e-commerce initiatives) have demonstrated cross-channel integration by unifying their call centers on a common commerce platform. As such, call center reps are empowered with real-time inventory information, because orders are managed for fulfillment in a common system that keeps this data neat and tidy. That efficiency aside, the web-driven GUI interfaces that accompany modern call center software systems have proven a customer-service enabler. Call center reps are advantaged when they can see images of and real-time data on the merchandise a customer is inquiring about, whether the inquiry is web- or catalog-driven.

A few retailers have begun to integrate store-level technology (kiosks, POS) on the same platform. It's this integration that's driven the store-level customer service improvements that come with enterprise-wide inventory visibility (i.e. saving sales that would have been lost due to out-of-stocks by enabling web order placement on a kiosk or by an associate) and innovations like order online, pickup in-store.

The next generation of cross-channel integration is customer-centric. It's digging into cross-channel transaction history, web activity, and store traffic analysis to cater to specific customers, or customer segments, with brand-unifying, cross-channel promotions. According to Pataro, this integration is bringing the CIO and the CTO to the table with merchandising, marketing, e-commerce, and catalog titles. This is encouraging, because integrated solutions begin with integrated departments.

Are you experiencing any cross-channel integration success? What points of cross-channel integration are on your road map? I'd like to write about it. Contact me at matt.pillar@jamesonpublishing.com.