Fast-forward five years from now and the question being
asked about pure play retailers will be how exactly do they survive without
taking advantage of trading across multiple channels including physical stores?
Having no stores will be seen as a mistake.
Shoppers will find it rather strange that they can only
buy from them online and not have the opportunity to also go into a store and
experience the brand along with feeling the goods. The reality for retailers is
that they surely have to maximise every opportunity and for this they need to
utilise all the channels they can get their hands on.
In the same way that bricks and mortar retailers have
fought back against online-only operators by developing e-commerce arms, our
view is that online retailers will want to use bricks to give their brands that
vital visibility.
The high street feeds our desire for retail therapy in a
way that cannot be replicated in the virtual world. The convenience of the
store experience is key to generating impulse purchases, which is very
difficult to achieve online. Online brands simply cannot give their customers
that same sense of satisfaction and reassurance that the physical outlet can
provide.
High Street retailers are feeding this need for
convenience, ironically using the very technology that threatened to sideline
them a few years ago. Smart-phone and
tablet technologies are already starting to entice shoppers into stores, a
trend which is set to continue, making it easier high street merchants to really
compete with their pure play rivals.
Shops open up a new customer base.
The pure plays are also facing the pressure of needing to
put themselves in front of more potential customers. They have a finite number
put in front of them – chiefly through mail-outs and catalogues – and so the
high street provides them with a great way to connect with a new set of
shoppers. It is possible that without this High Street presence, their online sales will plateau.
Not surprisingly, against this backdrop, there are
already indications that the more progressive internet players are making moves
into the physical space. Amazon for one has introduced city centre lockers as
collection points for deliveries.
There are also rumours that Amazon, along with Google, is
taking it a step further and looking at opening shops. If these successful
operators are considering such moves then you have to reckon there is plenty of
mileage in it. Online cycle retailer, Wiggle, and fashion site Net-a-Porter
clearly think so as both companies have stated their plans to open outlets to complement their online operations. They join N. Brown that has moved
its catalogue brand Simply Be store onto the high street.
Others have been experimenting with the physical space by
opening pop-ups. EBay took this route late last year along with others like Supermarket
Sarah that popped up in Selfridges store in London. Such moves could also provide
a solution to those store retailers wondering how to squeeze some value from
their unwanted square footage.
What we are witnessing is the evolution of retail, with
traditional retailers going online and the internet operators going the other
way on to the high street. Just as the former have faced great challenges
adapting to the online medium, the pure plays will undoubtedly find their move into
a new space equally hard as they shift into the world of bricks and mortar and
all the complications that entails.
The real winners from this switchover will be those
retailers that best deliver on the multi-channel model. It’s not about treating
channels as add-ons. It is instead about an integrated experience for customers
as they choose to shop across channels and increasingly look on pure plays as
employing yesterday’s model.
Sponsored column
by Sarah Wilson, retail specialist at consultancy Egremont Group
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment