OMNICHANNEL:
THE FUTURE
OF RETAILING?

Since we started publishing DC VELOCITY more than 10 years ago, one of our primary mis- sions has been to bring readers insights into emerging trends that will affect the way products move through supply chains. Along with bringing our audience regular stories on the here and now, we like to look over the horizon as well.

In this special report on one of the most important trends emerging in the retail industry, we take a close look at omnichannel commerce.

What is that, you ask? Good question, and our hope is that this multi-part report provides both an answer to that question and insights into how companies are grappling with it.

To develop this report, we teamed up with ARC Advisory Group to conduct a survey of readers of DC VELOCITY whose companies are tackling the many issues that arise when retailers move to the omnichannel model. In the first section of the report, Steve Banker of ARC and Editor at Large James Cooke examine the results of that survey and offer insight into what it all means. (ARC is also offering a more detailed examination of the omnichannel survey results in a separate report. For information on that, visit www.arcweb.com/pages/info-request.aspx.)

The results of the survey are not surprising:
Retailers face a number of logistics challenges in
making omnichannel distribution work and making
it profitable. This is true both at the distribution cen-
ter and at the retail store. Banker and Cooke’s story
shines a light on what those challenges are.