Macy’s, Inc. (M), Under Armour Inc (UA), Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN): The Future of Retail Is Now

The company saw that online shoppers were ordering five dresses in different sizes and returning the non-fitting ones to the store. Normally, that would trigger a fall in the sell-through rate and mean that the dresses got marked for discount. But Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) has figured out how to track the dresses better and work with a central location to redistribute the returns to regional locations. As a result, the returns end up better spread out, and that results in fewer markdowns.

The bottom line
Omnichannel could be the savior of the bricks-and-mortar store. Some early adopters have already seen success, and some companies have made it such a part of the business that no one even thinks to call it omnichannel. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) makes it easy to come into the store and use your tablet to buy books. Taking things one step further than most, it allows Nook owners to read through books for an hour a day if they’re in-store. That’s not going to save the company from obscurity, but it’s a really neat idea.

As the technology gets better, and as consumers become increasingly mobile-shopping savvy, there’s no telling where omnichannel is going to end up. For now, it’s enough to say that early adopters are going to learn some hard lessons along with the profitable ones. Investors should be on the lookout for both.

The article The Future of Retail Is Now originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Andrew Marder has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends PetSmart and Under Armour and owns shares of Bank of America and Under Armour.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.