At first, retailers mostly operated through one channel — physical stores. Then came mail and phone orders, and more recently, the online channel. Integrating these channels is important and can be a point of differentiation.

Consider this observation from Marian Berelowitz, writing for JWT Intelligence:

“Shopping is shifting from an activity that takes place in physical stores or online to a value exchange that plays out in multiple novel ways: This is one of our trends for 2013, dubbed Everything Is Retail.”

“Google+ has introduced shoppable Hangouts: During the first one, designer Diane von Furstenberg discussed her fall collection and other tidbits with participants. Concurrently, viewers saw a selection of the garments along the side of their screen. They could click through to buy from the brand’s website or save to a Google Shopping Shortlist. The trailer itself collected more than 2.3 million views in only a couple of weeks.” 

Take a look at the trailer here.