The next few months will test consumers’ appetites for online versus in-store shopping, as these channels are currently operating simultaneously. This should be only temporary, though, as omnichannel businesses simply can’t afford to have one channel win while another loses—setting arbitrary, siloed growth metrics per channel that would cause them to compete.

Plus, despite all the changes that needed to be executed over the last year, I still find many online shopping experiences woefully inadequate for the type of bargain bin shopping that occurs during Black Friday. Many of these systems don’t offer search functionality within their sales page—only one long list of items that customers are directed to from sales or promotional emails, at which point the endless scroll begins and is quickly abandoned.