Belk Inc. has hired Dorlisa Flur as its first executive vice president of omnichannel. The appointment is part of a strategy to better integrate Belk’s digital sales and stores, the southern department store chain and e-retailer says.

Flur will lead a team of employees spanning  e-commerce, information technology and stores, Belk says. Over the next three or four years, the retailer plans to revamp its e-commerce site on a new software platform, replace store point-of-sale systems, update its mobile apps, install customer data warehousing and analytics technologies and establish a Belk-wide inventory system, rather than keeping inventory management separate for stores and e-commerce, it says.

Flur reports to president and chief operating officer John R. Belk. “Like many retailers, we are early in our omnichannel journey and we know it will be critical to our success going forward,” he says. “We are fortunate to have someone with the talent and experience of Dorlisa Flur to lead us.”

Prior to her hire, Flur worked for eight years at Family Dollar Stores Inc., most recently as vice chair, strategy and chief administrative officer, Belk says. Before that, she spent 24 years with management consulting firm McKinsey and Co., spending the last two years leading its retail practice group in the Southeast, according to the retailer and Flur’s LinkedIn profile.

 In the last year, Belk has announced plans to invest $4.5 million into a new e-commerce fulfillment center and hire about 100 new technology staffers.

Belk operates 301 stores in 16 states, it says. Belk Ecommerce LLC is No. 221 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. The retailer’s 2011 web sales were $72.4 million, up 108% from 2010, according to the most recent guide data.