“We measure our business by the minute and can shift in real time to both maximize and mitigate based on trends. In 2009, our ability to see these shifts allowed us to make critical changes to assortments, programming, and marketing—and that will continue to be a priority in 2010.”

That statement, by HSN CEO Mindy Grossman in a February 11 article on Inside Retailing Online, says a great deal about where retailers are (or should be) headed. Even more significantly, HSN makes these shifts across multiple channels—

Yet a study from retail technology provider CrossView found that many retailers fail at cross-channel integration by not providing consistent experiences across Web, phone, and in-store channels.

The study examined 26 top retailers between December 1 and December 11 across three channels: online, in-store, and call center. The retailers were evaluated using a variety of criteria, including consistency of pricing and promotions and access to customer profile information. The highest scoring retailers were Best Buy, The Limited, and Aeropostale.

“Lack of unified and coordinated pricing, promotions, customer relationship management, and order management shows that there is a gaping hole to fill when it comes to customer connectivity,” said Sahir Anand, research director of retail, hospitality, and CPG at Aberdeen Group about the CrossView findings.

Aberdeen data indicates at least 65% of multi-channel retailers lack cross-channel integration, leading to high sales opportunity costs and loss of customer share of wallet, said Anand.