This is an excerpt from a CrossView blog post in which Retail TouchPoints’ Editor-in-Chief Debbie Hauss defines cross-channel strategies and shares insights from a recent “Cross-Channel Checkup."
Because I am a word-oriented person, I spend time thinking about (and sometimes lose sleep over) the variations in meanings of similar terms. For example, cross-channel, omni-channel and multichannel are three terms that arguably could have similar meanings. In reality, they are often used interchangeably in the retail world.
While any number of retail executives, experts and the like may continue to use these terms in their own, unique ways, I have reached a conclusion on the way I believe these terms should be defined in retail. Simply, multichannel means numerous channels not necessarily functioning as a cohesive group; omni-channel means all channels have converged to the point that together they have become one unit; and cross-channel describes a collaborative channel approach to retail strategy typically resulting in consistent brand messaging across different channels.
These definitions are significant when retailers are deciding how to develop and implement a successful channel strategy. And with the proliferation of additional channels, including mobile and social, a successful channel strategy is key to retail success moving forward into 2012 and beyond.
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Read the entire blog post here.
