The study, "Re-Engineering The Supply Chain For The Omnichannel Of Tomorrow," draws on the views of 42 senior executives from the world's largest consumer products and retail companies. Its key finding is that 81 percent of executives believe the supply chain – an integral part of any seamless online-offline commerce experience – is holding back their omnichannel strategies.

“Supply chain and customer experience can’t be treated as separate from marketing anymore,” said Gary Angel, principal of the digital analytics center of excellence at EY. “No matter how great your marketing is, if the person arrives at the store, or the Web site via online or mobile, and the item is out of stock, you’re going to lose that sale.”

The CMO must now have a relationship with the chief experience officer, and the chief operations officer as well, since the supply chain is an operational discipline, he added. Without synergy among these three groups, omnichannel is not attainable.

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