The term channel management or channel marketing has been used since the 1980s for the rather operational integration of third-party distribution with marketing communications in a given distribution channel. Shifting and fluid switching of customers between and across channels means integrating individual dis-tributive cells to the extent that they provide a comprehensive customer experience. For this, the distribution cells must be managed not in parallel (i.e. multi-channel) but synthetic (i.e. omni-channel).