Interesting studies done by the Aberdeen Group.

New Age Multi-Channel Retailing: Prospects for Digital Retail Revolution and Avenues for Better Integration .

- Best-in-Class companies 2.5x as likely as Laggards to have the ability to execute a unified marketing plan for all channels of operations.

- Best-in-Class companies are 28% more likely than their peers to possess the capability to track cross-channel performance analytics.

- Best-in-Class companies are 72% more likely than their peers to be using online user analysis for driving store and overall multi-channel performance.

Aberdeen surveyed over 120 retail enterprises between December 2008 and January 2009 to determine the current state of multi-channel retailing, and the future implementation of the digital and mobile channels. Aberdeen data reveals that 58% of retailers surveyed have had a multi-channel initiative in place for at least one year. Best-in-Class companies are 1.5-times as likely as Industry Average and Laggard companies to have implemented these initiatives in that time.

Optimizing Sales Performance Management through Data Integration and Analytics. 

- Seventy-one percent (71%) of Best-in-Class companies experience year-over-year improvement in sales productivity, compared to 12% of Laggards.

- Best-in-Class companies are 2.8 times less likely to experience yearly sales force turnover compared to Laggards.

- Best-in-Class companies are 2.4 times more likely than Laggards to improve annual revenue.

*More information on these studies can be found at www.aberdeen.com.