Starting to click: Leaders embrace multichannel model

Multichannel retailing has been a buzzword since long before Jeff Bezos first reported a profit at Amazon.com (that was back in January 2002). Today, the biggest home improvement retailers are still at it, walking shoulder-to-shoulder into the multichannel future. Well, at least, they sound a lot alike.

Consider the following clicks-and-bricks-related comments:

“We call our strategy interconnected retail, because we believe that our responsibility is to make sure however the customer wants to buy that we have the ability to service their needs.”

— Marvin Ellison, executive VP U.S. stores, Home Depot

“We’ve got to make sure that we’re priced competitively every day across those channels so that long term, we’re going to be able to provide the value proposition that consumers are looking for no matter what channel they choose to shop.”

— Robert Niblock, CEO, Lowe’s

“We believe it is becoming more and more obvious that the future of retail will revolve around the seamless integration of online and offline experiences.”

— Lou D’Ambrosio, CEO

Sears Holdings

“We are now committed to saying, we have to get in this space in the right way with the right people behind it. We have to be able to give them the convenience to shop, when, how, where they want. We know, as an example, that more and more of our customers are coming through our site.”

— Greg Sandfort, president and CMO

Tractor Supply