Technology firm Accenture announced it has been selected by Belk, the largest family-owned and -operated department store company in the United States, to help the retailer deliver a seamless experience to customers across all shopping channels — in-store, online and mobile — as part of its "Omnichannel Transformation Initiative." Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Accenture will help Belk ensure that products in stores and warehouses appear available whether the customer is shopping online or in-store, reducing the possibility that a sale is missed because the product appears to be out of stock in a specific location. The program will also include planning the implementation of a new digital platform, improving the customer experience on Belk.com, growing Belk's customer analytics capability and integrating its operations to help it operate consistently across multiple shopping channels.

"Customers have many ways to choose to shop with us, and this project helps us ensure our brand, our service and our fashion assortments are reflected across all channels," said John R. Belk, president and CEO. "We selected Accenture because of their multichannel retail experience and ability to offer us additional specialized resources and capabilities. This collaboration will help us deliver these new features faster and at a lower cost than we could have achieved alone."

Read more about multichannel retailing.