A fifth of British retailers are failing to connect their online and physical premises, according to a survey by Juniper Networks.
Two-thirds of the companies served already have a "click and collect" service in place, with a third offering on-demand delivery as an option.
Stuart Borgman, a senior director at Juniper Networks, said: "With Black Friday and the holiday period approaching, retailers need to ensure their IT strategy is aligned to their business objectives in order to maximise the opportunity.
"To meet these consumer demands, retailers need a robust back-end infrastructure, as a downtime in network connection or a major security breach could cause serious reputational damage, consumer mistrust and ultimately, loss of revenue."
While almost all respondents said that innovative technology was vital to the future success of the industry, 44% believed that the biggest advantage from tech was the ability to learn more about the buying habits of their customers.
Three-fifths also said technology is a valuable resource for their firm, despite the fact that 81% are actively investing in critical network infrastructure.
