As retailers continue to expand their omnichannel service offerings, they're increasingly turning to a traditionally underused resource: the brick-and-mortar store. Talk to enough retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers, and they'll tell you that building up their omnichannel fulfillment networks is imperative for maintaining market share.

But dig a little deeper, and you'll soon realize that omnichannel retailing is not a single bullseye target, but rather a diverse mosaic of operations that can include everything from shuttling inventory between brick-and-mortar storefronts to offering BOPIS, or 'buy online, pick up in store,' services. Many practitioners have traditionally defined 'omnichannel' as 'distribution from anywhere,' including the distributor's distribution center (DC), direct from the supplier, or shipped from a store or third-party logistics partner (3PL). But today, the term 'omnichannel' seems to have almost as many definitions as the number of players in the marketplace. What percentage of your direct retail revenue comes from each channel? To learn more about the current state of omnichannel fulfillment practices, Supply Chain Quarterly's sister publication DC Velocity teamed up with ARC Advisory Group, a Dedham, Massachusetts-based management consulting firm, to conduct an industry survey. Respondents answered 32 questions about their approach to meeting current challenges in omnichannel commerce, with a focus on order fulfillment and, especially, the changing role of the retail store in helping companies deal with a surging tide of online orders.

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(For more information on the study, see the sidebar.). This year's omnichannel study was conducted by ARC Advisory Group in conjunction with Supply Chain Quarterly's sister publication DC Velocity.

ARC analyst Chris Cunnane oversaw the research and compiled the results. The study explored current challenges in omnichannel commerce,with a focus on order fulfillment and, especially, the changing role of the retail store. Respondents included logistics professionals from a variety of industry verticals, who submitted answers during July and August 2018. As for the demographic breakdown, the majority (60 percent) of respondents sold goods through a combination of direct and indirect sales channels. Another 30 percent sold merchandise through direct retail only, and the remaining 10 percent through indirect sales channels only. A report containing a more detailed examination of the omnichannel survey results is available from ARC.

Fashion solitaire 1. For order information, visit. Many different shades The survey revealed that retailers deploy a broad spectrum of cross-channel tactics to support sales in today's challenging omnichannel environment from 'order at store, fulfill from a warehouse (or another store)' to 'return to store, even when goods are ordered online.' (See Figure 1 for the full rundown.) The survey also looked at what particular tools respondents rely on to get those jobs done. The data showed that the most common technologies or applications currently used by respondents as part of their omnichannel initiatives are warehouse management systems (80 percent), transportation management systems (76 percent), and total-landed-cost analytics (61 percent). (See Figure 2 for the complete list.) The respondents are also taking a variety of actions to recover the supply chain costs associated with fulfilling omnichannel orders. The numbers show that the most common approach is to collect fees for expedited delivery, cited by 51 percent of survey-takers.

Next on the list was charging delivery fees for all orders (40 percent), followed by collecting fees for returns shipments (28 percent). (See Figure 3.) Even with these efforts to recover costs, retailers' investments in their omnichannel capabilities (which include software, hardware, training, and shipping, among others) add up to serious money. So, what's motivating companies to continue adding tiles to the omnichannel mosaic? Respondents said the top four reasons they were participating in omnichannel commerce or intending to do so were: to increase sales (51 percent), to increase market share (50 percent), to improve customer loyalty (45 percent), and to increase margins (21 percent). A growing role for stores Over the past few years, there has been increasing attention paid to the practice of using store inventory to fulfill e-commerce orders. In response to this growing trend, this year's survey took a particularly close look at the role of the store in omnichannel fulfillment.