Ninety-nine percent of consumers who take delivery of online orders in brick-and-mortar stores are pleased with the experience, according to a recent survey. Twenty-nine percent said the option is why they placed the order in the first place.

Analyst Insight: Too many retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers are in a race to the bottom, when it comes to what they charge for shipping. This is not sustainable over the long run. Those that create their own granular, real-time intelligence about where they hold inventory, understand total fulfillment costs, and have the ability to dynamically steer customers to the most profitable options, will be able to satisfy and attract customers, while creating profitable order deliveries. - Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

Analyst Insight: Retail continues its massive digital evolution; we no longer should look at e-commerce as a separate activity for retailers. Consumers are only concerned about commerce. The lines between different retail channels have blurred, consumers expect retailers to service their demands and needs regardless of which path they decide to leverage with the retailers. Retailers' supply chains must keep pace with these digital changes. -- Guy F. Courtin, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

Analyst Insight: Retailers are seeing new opportunities afforded by omnichannel commerce to leverage brick-and-mortar assets as more than just nodes in the distribution network. They are taking advantage of customers' desires for low or no shipping costs to drive additional in-store spend and seamless returns that make customers happy and ease the burden on distribution. -- Rob Dold, Retail Industry Leader, Fortna Inc.

Analyst Insight: Your target customers have completed their research and are ready to purchase your product. Then comes the final step in the purchasing process - selecting the delivery method (logistics channel) that best fits their immediate needs. In today's world, whether customers realize it or not, they are driving companies to become more flexible in their logistics capabilities. - Thompson Brockman, Partner, Tompkins International

Analyst Insight: Suppliers competing in a global market grapple with several factors that are pushing them to redesign their distribution footprints. A boom in mergers and acquisitions, increasing delivery demands, and a shift in the locations of supply sources are all converging, requiring reconfigurations of the single or multi-echelon networks of warehouses and cross-docks used to "hub and spoke" products in a cost-effective manner to customers while ensuring the appropriate level of required customer responsiveness. - Michael Albritton, Director, AlixPartners

A "hat trick" refers to scoring three goals in a game. A remarkable feat for most players and certainly worthy of doffing your hat to honor the player. In magic, a hat trick describes the infamous illusion of pulling something out of an empty hat, typically a rabbit.

Today, omnichannel is so much broader than just the technology platform the customer uses for purchases - web, store, mobile, catalogue and so on. At its heart it is really about fulfillment - the customer's choice of fulfillment.