Omni-channel is a new term that many consumers have not heard of but are beginning to experience through their interactions with large businesses. The term omni-channel refers to the ability of a business to get products to consumers in the fastest, most efficient way by optimizing the supply chain. In order to optimize the supply chain of a large business, many tactics are available to use. First, businesses can outsource their supply chains to other 3PL businesses such as Gartner MQ or PureConnect. These businesses are able to take into account products, distribution centers, stores, and shipping methods of the parent company and optimize the best way to get the product to the consumer. For example, if a customer orders a product from the company’s website, this outside business software would be able to figure out the best way for the product to get to the consumer. This could mean shipping the product directly to the customer from the distribution center, or shipping the product from one of the stores to the customer, whichever is more cost efficient.
The alternative to outsourcing the supply chain is to figure out the omni-channel distribution system that would best fit your company internally. For example, Dick’s Sporting Goods utilizes Manhattan, an internal software that allows for employees to figure out which channel to use to most efficiently get the product to the consumer. By utilizing this software, employees can see what items are in stock at the store and use the software to fulfill online orders from the store.
Omni-channel retail operations are a growing system of dispersing products that many large companies are using to cut down on transportation and shipping costs. These new technologies, such as Manhattan or PureConnect, are not possible without the coding knowledge of software engineers. Specific code needs to be written to be able to locate products, customers, and find the best channel to get the product to the consumer.
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-dicks-sporting-goods-decided-to-play-its-own-game-in-ecommerce/