Abstract  Extensive integration of online and offline channels is often described as the most preferable strategy for multi channel retailing. However, empirical findings challenge this assumption by showing that retailers choose a variety of disparate multi channel strategies. Given this variety, we conjecture that there is no single best approach to multi channel retailing, but that, depending on the general marketing strategy, different multi channel strategies can be suitable for retailers. We develop a model of strategic channel alignment and identify four different paths of channel alignment, which we use to reconstruct and interpret multi channel strategies as an alignment of general marketing strategy and online strategy. An application of the model to four prominent and successful cases from the grocery retailing industry shows that although the companies pursue fundamentally different multi channel strategies, they can all be considered as examples of successful alignment and mature multi channel strategies.