Ever since ecommerce has come into existence, there has been speculations that retail will soon be history. This fear is not baseless either. There was a huge dip in the figures when it came to brick and mortar stores. It was estimated that more than 6 million shoppers have given the retail stores a miss. The message that is loud and clear from such reports is that the online stores are here and they will keep wooing the consumers. But to say that retail will completely be overshadowed by ecommerce in the near future might be too far fetched. On the contrary, even retail can benefit from ecommerce.

Physical experience is important

According to a recent news, the ecommerce giant, Amazon is planning to open its first brick and mortar store in Manhattan in order to compete with brands like Barns and Noble. The company also mentioned that they will offer one hour delivery service within Manhattan. A certain segment of shoppers want the traditional retail store shopping experience so that they can touch and feel the products they are buying. While this is specifically true for GenX and baby boomers, the younger generation prefers to opt for online shopping whether it is their clothes or gizmos. Owning your purchase instantly is something that is appreciated by the buyers. For shoppers who appreciate the aspect of feeling and buying items instantly is only possible with physical stores.
However, with Amazon’s new service for its retail store can open up new avenues.

The need to reinvent

Customer satisfaction is the prime focus. All your customers require at the end of the day is good service. While ecommerce stores have impressed their existing and potential customers with their outstanding services, the brick and mortar stores should follow the same line in order to survive. The journey would be easier for them as they already have a success model in front of them. Look at the Apple stores. With time their physical stores have been successfully reinvented so that they can survice competition. Creating an in-store experience is necessary. Whether it is trying out a T-shirt or a computer, the need is to create unique experiences. In this regard, how can you ignore J.C. Penney? With its promotional strategies and a host of new in-store experiences, the 110 years store was successful in rebranding itself.

Adding legitimacy

It is always important to have a face, a representation. Physical stores are the faces for online businesses. When a company has a brick and mortar store, it adds legitimacy to the online brands. This is where the physical retail can hugely benefit from online businesses. The ecommerce solutions, has, in fact revolutionized the way business is being done. Yet the presence of a retail store provides legitimacy to the online business.

Improves Customer Relationship

The presence of both retail store and an ecommerce platform helps in enhancing the customer relationship as well as the management capabilities. While the online stores help them in searching the products easily, they can come down to the stores, test the product and then order the same. Customers who are already happy with your services and products can simply opt for the commerce platform and place the order. With the retail store, you can interact with your customers as well as potential customers. This helps in promoting customer loyalty and increases the chances of repeat purchase.

According to a survey people shopping in brick and mortar shops 40% of the shoppers spend extra while on online stores it the number is 20%. The in-store experience is hard to let go for most of the shoppers. For ecommerce stores, it is a great opportunity to attract the customers to their stores to ensure better success. If your strategies are in the right place, of course, your online stores can definitely from retail ones.

Pros of E-commerce

Of course there are issues with retail. The web is a serious and a giant competitor mainly because it offers a huge array of products that are comparable and often provided at lower prices. Moreover, there is a 24X7 access and they also offer free shipping. As far as electronic goods are concerned, a shift has been observed to the online stores. This is where the mobile devices play an important role. These are instrumental in driving online shopping in bulk. There is an ease of usage where e-commerce websites are concerned. Forrester, way back, had released a project on online retail forecast that predicted huge sales as far as e-commerce sales are concerned. The numbers, however, were not surprising. It was expected that the figures for online shopping would eventually reach the skies.

How is physical retail faring?

Does rise of ecommerce means death knell for physical retails? Presently it does not seem so. The analytics that were being projected for e-commerce stores previously are now being predicted for the physical retail. Stores are increasingly bridging the gap between physical and digital worlds. There are certain companies, like, RetailNext that are developing computer programs that would provide all necessary information about how the consumers are interacting with stores. Such insights are helping the stores in improving their layouts.

Here are some of the ways in which the retails are growing gradually –

– Use of technology

GPS or beacon integration is one technology that is being increasingly used by the physical stores so that they can gain from it. By leveraging location data from a nearby store will provide them an opportunity to fulfill their customers’ needs better. If e-commerce stores are gaining prominence with the use of technology, so are the physical stores.

– Customizing shopping experience

Customization is, probably, one of the key factors in deciding the fate of the retail shops. Owing to the tough competition from the online stores, it is important to navigate into the unfamiliar territory. They are, nowadays, allowing the customers to enjoy facilities, like, home delivery so that the customers can easily avoid busy streets. In fact, they are also offering value add-on services like personal shoppers through mobile concierge systems.

However, there have been certain adverse effects on retail. For instance, retail real estate is almost dead. Real estate brokers and landlords in several parts of the world state that there is low demand of retail real estate. As a result in such cities there is an opportunity for building shopping centers. However, another reality is that there are cities people are not even going to the malls. As a result, the malls are dying. On the other hand, the indoor malls are doing pretty well. So how can one predict such changes?

Physical retail is changing trends

Can you skip going to spas? Retails will survive in the forms of pet daycare to wellness spas. Physical retails are adopting newer methods in order to reach out to the target audience.

Navigation – As mentioned before it is necessary to provide an easy shopping experience to the customers. Moreover, just because there is an online store, it does not mean that it had been designed with the users in mind. E-commerce website design has its downhill as well.

Mobile devices – Physical stores, too, are foraying into online business so that their customers can find them online. Their advantage is that they are offering more options – both physical and online. While they are taking advantage of the mobile devices, they are also ensuring better customer services.

Providing off-line services – In order to stay in the competition it is essential to beef up the certain services including customer services. People are more non-traditional in their approach when it comes to shopping. Showrooms, pop-up stores, etc are good strategies for the physical stores. Whether it is new or old customers, it is essential to create an all new experience for the consumers.

Is e-commerce dying then?

Of course not. Forrester was quite right in its projections. E-commerce is here to stay owing to the benefits it provides. However, it is too early to state that physical retail has reached its tail end. The future of e-commerce is bright provided it can keep delivering an impressive customer service as well as an assortment of products.

Finally, the future of retail lies in the amalgamation of proper design and utilization of shopper data and analysis. These are essential to provide an effective shopping experience. As long as physical retails provide the same, it will surely survive.