3 Outliers in Brick-and-Mortar Retail Trends

This year is only a few weeks old and this blog has already reported quite a bit about brick-and-mortar retail trends.

So one more post on the subject won’t hurt anybody.

The following statement will seem pretty academic–and perhaps repetitive. The brick-and-mortar retail trend is far from spelling doom for physical stores.

Yes, eCommerce sales grew faster than physical store sales in the 2016 Christmas shopping season. But, a closer look shows us the trends impact different sectors and regions of the world differently.

The Human Touch

Here are three things we’ve picked up on in the last few weeks.

1. The in-store human touch is becoming more vital.
   A business must make the in-store experience distinctive from online channels. This was a topic that came up in a panel discussion ahead of the National Retail Federation’s Retail BIG Show in New York. The panelists noted that the “in-store experience will never be able to compete with the online experience in terms of efficiency or access to a broad range of goods.” There has to be a recognition in the physical space that humans are not brains in a vat, but are sensory beings. Retailers must create a multi-sensory experience while providing all the information a customer needs to make a purchasing decision.
2. Americans still like shopping in stores more than those that don’t.
   PYMNTS.com posted an article about a survey of 6,000 consumers and 500 retailers in the US, China, and Europe. The survey showed retail executives think more highly of physical stores than customers do. But, while 50% to 55% of some Europeans thought of physical shopping as “a chore”, only 29% of Americans felt that way. Retailers must decide how to make the retail space more appealing, according to the report’s authors. One suggestion found in the survey: half of global consumers wanted stores to offer more experience-based features, such as cooking classes or workshops.
3. Furniture and other sectors seem to buck the in-store retail trends.
   America saw meager growth of in-store sales in the US during the holiday season. Data show that beauty, health, and personal care, bucked that trend. Sales at furniture and home furnishings stores also outperformed the broader retail industry through 2016. Customers looking for such products still need a broader sensory experience than online shopping will ever provide. One Texas-based furniture and home decor chain, At Home, has grown using a physical-store-only approach. According to its CEO, the average customer spends an hour shopping in their stores.

We have to say it again: for suppliers and retailers alike, the physical store is still a viable sales channel, even if its overall footprint has shrunk.

Read how an integrated inventory management solution can improve your cash flow and sales. whether retail is your primary channel or part of your omnichannel approach.