With focus on customer experience, omni-channel fulfillment comes front and center

Omni-channel retailing may have joined the broader business lexicon last year, but 2014 could be the year that the concept comes front and center for a larger number of ERP users looking to meet customer expectations and gain better footing in the multi-channel business environment.

Still a relatively new approach to the consumer experience, omni-channel focuses on making products available via mobile, computer, bricks-and-mortar retail, direct mail, and other channels in a seamless and intentional manner. The idea is that the consumer who orders a product online, exchanges it at the store, and then orders another one via a mobile device, gets the same experience across all of the channels. This streamlined approach is a big step (or three) beyond the early days of e-commerce, when corporate strategies focused on establishing different silos for various sales channels.

Customers Deserve Better

Right now the customer is in the driver's seat when it comes to omni-channel. Because of this, the way in which orders are fulfilled - the ultimate package, delivery, or return mechanism experienced by the customer - is gaining in importance. In Supply Chain Market, ChainLink Research's Ann Grackin discussed the relationships between omni-channel, the purpose-driven supply chain (i.e., a clearly defined, well-orchestrated solution with existing roles, workflows, and reporting on the platform out-of-the-box), and fulfillment.

"Of late," Grackin writes, "the need for companies-retailers, wholesalers, and even B2B-to holistically sell and fulfill though their entire channel has led to a revision of the fulfillment solution." To create an omni-channel platform requires modules that previously may have been considered sell-side or demand-side applications (vs. supply-side) to be delivered in ...