Will bricks and mortar become obsolete?

Unstoppable growth in online retail will spell the death of Australian bricks-and-mortar stores we were told repeatedly. But, will it?

The ‘death’ of bricks-and-mortar has been predicted time and again by industry experts. A power retail article found here states mixed reviews, but the conclusion is the demise of brick and mortar. In an ABC article, here, we hear the death knell of book stores. Although many people both retail managers and shoppers concur, they couldn’t be more wrong and are severely underestimating the importance of tangible, physical stores.

The growth in online retail has drastically slowed in the past 4 years, stagnating at 6.9% of all retail spending (SMH article here). This means that a staggering 93.1% of spending is still done in stores.

However, this does not mean that bricks-and-mortar retailers can simply trade as before. The shopper journey has become more complex than ever and retailers must be well informed. Brand new marketing channels seem to pop up every couple of days and are adopted by shoppers at an astounding rate! Gone are the days where the only marketing needing investment are TV, radio and catalogues.

The new Omni-channel retail world

Retailers need to become smarter and more efficient at evaluating different channels. We live in a world where the tools to measure channel effectiveness have become as important as investing in the channels themselves.

The retailer who can constantly identify a set of channels to invest in for the highest returns will win in this new world.

________________________________________________________________________________

You can follow us on twitter at @KeplerAnalytics, call us: 1800 300 892 or email us at: info@kepleranalytics.com. At Kepler we believe that privacy is most important. Secondly, understanding your foot traffic, sales conversion, window conversion and visual merchandising is the start to bridging the gap between the physical and digital. Understanding your customer behaviour can help you understand what types of communications are working. Linking your foot traffic to digital and traditional marketing campaigns will allow you to see how your marketing efforts actually affect sales. As always, do your research and use a solution that helps you achieve the goals of each new project.