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.

Amazon now accounts for roughly 50 percent of all online retail sales growth in the United States and 24 percent of total retail sales growth, according to Macquarie Research.

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.

Customer service is an indisputably important factor when it comes to online retail. Good customer service can be the greatest sales asset a retailer can have, encouraging loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations. But bad customer service cannot only see a particular sale lost in an instant, but long-term irreparable damage done to the brand.