E-Retailing StrategyWhy an E-Retailing strategy?Evaluate the feasibility of an online retail format. It offers retailers a relatively inexpensive alternative channel, keeping their overall branding and retail strategy in mind. For whom? retail formatsHow?Why integrated retail?Integrated retail combines several strengths:• Retail IT solutions for retail chains in verticals such as: specialty, hypermarket, department stores, supermarkets, foodservice and kiosk retail• A customer base of over 100 retail companies across Asia, in retail automation solutions• Help desk dedicated, multilingual, 24/7 to support customers of specialty retail solutions companies in the United States• Consultants hired by leading IT systems integration companies to assess the business needs of billions of US dollars, multi-country, multi-format retail companiesAdvisors who are thought leaders in cutting-edge retail applications such as RFID, Biometrics, VICS CPFR, GDSN, etc.IntroductionE-Retailing: Internet retailing or "e-retailing" as it is usually called as it covers retailing using a variety of different technologies or media. Overall, it can be a combination of two elements. Combining new technologies with elements of traditional stores and direct mail models. The use of new technologies to replace in-store or direct mail retail elements. Internet retailing also has some elements in common with direct mail retailing. For example, electronic messages can replace electronic messages and telephone, which are used in the direct mail model as a means of providing information, communications and transactions, while online catalogs can replace printed catalogs. As with direct mail businesses, critical success factors include: use of customer databases; easy ordering; fast delivery. The operational elements that the Internet retail model shares with both the retail store and direct mail models include: � customer billing ¿½ Supplier relationships There are therefore many elements that retail Internet-based and more traditional retail models have in common. Indeed, many of the most successful Internet retailers have been those who have successfully transferred essential elements of traditional retailing to the Internet, such as customer service and product presentation. The Four Challenges of Electronic Retailing Every online fulfillment operation, large or small, faces four main challenges: Controlling customer data As outsourcing arrangements proliferate and delivery services become more Experts in the use of information technology, retailers risk losing control of consumer data. This knowledge, ranging from customers' socioeconomic status to their purchasing habits and preferences, helps middlemen and shippers reduce costs, but they can also use it to compete with retailers..