Seeing Up and Down the Supply Chain

Mark Lavelle, Bill Me Later

Dealing with out-of-stocks is bad enough. Dealing with customers with improperly set expectations—especially for a customer who drove through a blizzard to pick up a Christmas present that was never there—can be far worse.

Trying to Explain Different Online/Offline Prices for the Same Product

Kevin Ertell, Borders; Patti Freeman Evans, Jupiter Research; Mark Lavelle, Bill Me Later

Given the sharply higher cost structure of brick-and-mortar operations, it is easy for retailers to understand different pricing. But for consumers, it just does not make much sense.

A Museum's Merged Channel Challenge

Ursula Milan, The Museum of Modern Art

At New York's Museum of Modern Art, making it clear what is online-only and what is instore-only is more difficult than it might seem.

Kiosk: Friend or Foe?

Evan Schuman, moderator; Patti Freeman Evans, Jupiter Research

The kiosk can help bring the information-depth of online into a store, but it can also alienate customers who will be shunted aside. How to strike the right balance?

How Did the Panel Define Merged Channel?

Evan Schuman, moderator

Different definitions are common, so we defined what we would consider multi-channel, cross-channel and merged channel.

The Borders Vision

Kevin Ertell, Borders

As Borders prepares to move beyond its partnership with Amazon.com, the chain can legitimately claim to be both farthest ahead of major retailers in becoming truly merged as well as having a history that is possibly the most non merged of any of the major chains.

The Merged Channel Compensation Dilemma

Kevin Ertell, Borders

One of the stickiest issues in merged channel debates is how to properly incentivize online and offline managers to work together. Borders explains its plans to deal with commissions.

Setting Aside Online Inventory

John McAteer, Google; Patti Freeman Evans, Jupiter Research

To take care of online and offline customers, retailers often opt for separate inventories. But it is hard for brick-and-mortar managers to see merchandise that they cannot sell.