Toward a Digital Strategy for Omnichannel Retailing

The transition from multichannel to omnichannel retailing implies a fundamental shift in the way companies compete and hence also for the organizational structure. In the multichannel organization, each channel operates independently, creates value independently and hence, each channel manager is rewarded for the individual turnover of his or her channel. Contrastingly, in the omnichannel organization, the channels have to be collapsed and integrated. This means that brand control and customer ownership must be centralized, which can have great implications for most companies.