Omni is complex and the drive to adopt it is a difficult and expensive road for those retailers who didn't think through the complexity of the processes and data a long, long time ago. In addition, organizations that have had a lot of change such as mergers and acquisitions (and have multiple systems that just don't talk to each other) have variable capability to identify "the customer," as well as difficulty seeing across their operations to complete transactions.

Brands and retailers who considered and managed their channels uniquely are struggling to cope with the rapidly changing retail landscape. Retail is a sector that has been under-invested in, in terms of strong back-end systems, with most of the money having gone into point of sale. New concepts were “tack-ons” rather than being part of a fully integrated strategy. Those who did see web, catalogue and store as the same buyer and the same merchandise, and the warehouse shelf and store shelf as just another shelf are in better shape as shoppers shift their channels.

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