Multichannel Integration

Sales channels are proliferating. Brick-and-mortar stores, online stores, call centers, sales partners, and agents are all used in varying combinations to reach customers. For businesses, the goal is to leverage the advantages of each channel while still presenting a unified view to customers. Call centers, for example, offer personalized service to customers but cost more to operate than Web-based services. Customers want the convenience of ordering online, but they also want the ease of returning a product to the store in town rather than shipping it back. Meeting these expectations requires multichannel integration.

As we saw in the case study of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield (Chapter 3) and as shown in this chapter's ...

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