Multichannel and omnichannel strategies have become a critical aspect of retailing. In this study, we present an overview of multichannel and omnichannel retail and discuss its applications in the future of retail. To do so, we explore the different areas of interest in multichannel and omnichannel retail highlighted in previous scholarly research, as a preliminary step to propose a comprehensive framework of themes that should be paid attention to for future advancements in the field. A total of 11 studies addressing the main theme of Multichannel Retail and Its Applications in the Future of E-Commerce illustrate this overview and the framework.

The deregulation of the electricity markets in the European Union and the transformation caused by digital technologies and customer-centric strategies have altered the industry ecosystem, forcing companies to adapt to the new scenario. This research study aims to give a global overview of the digital transformation and channel integration of free-market electricity retailers in Spain from a consumer’s perspective. The analysis includes all free-market electricity retailers that operate at the national scale, explores the level of digital transformation and channel integration of these companies based on a structured set of indicators, and measures them using the mystery shopper technique. The results show important differences between leading retailers and the rest of companies, evidence an important lag of the sector when compared to other retail markets and an overall lack of multichannel and omnichannel strategies, show a strong effort of retailers in online billing and self-service customer data management, and reveal shortcomings in the availability of communication channels with customers.

In order to achieve a true transition from the Information Society to the Knowledge Society, Information and Communication Technologies must play a capital role in educational and knowledge management processes. The gap between advances in technology and current teaching methods is slowing up the integration of new educational technologies into already existing technological and methodological frameworks. As a result, the combination of mature educational technologies and educational methods does not meet the demands of today's society. In the pursuit of ways to reconcile consolidated and emerging technologies with educational methods to improve educational processes, the authors propose a technological environment to support learning services: the learning ecosystem. This chapter presents an initial proposal of a learning technological ecosystem based on an architecture framework and interoperable components, and outlines the required elements, actions and methods for learning ecosystems to become a reality.