Interesting thoughts, but although my background is also retail IT, my focus has been on the supply side. There is nothing worse than the marketing side over promising and the supply side under delivering. I agree the new media present challenges, but I think your analysis under estimates the coordinating function of IT. The IT department does not only implement individual projects, they are often the ones who know what both the left and the right hands of an organization are trying to do and can coordinate business processes in addition to technology. If an organization cannot deliver the goods all the marketing in the world will not improve sales.