LEX News

Close the Online / Offline Gap for Retail Facilities

Brick and motor retailers are finding the competition even more intense with online shopping and it grows fiercer every year.

Downloads of shopping apps saw a 76% increase from 2015 to 2016 according to Retail Dive, indicating a strong change in the way consumers choose to research and perhaps complete their purchases. Furthermore, it is estimated by 2025, 20% of grocery purchases will be made online (Source: Harvard Business Review, What the Grocery Stores Holding Their Own Against Amazon Are Doing Right, 2019).

But this doesn’t tell the full story, as most retailers that intended to withstand the tests of the market have already invested in omnichannel (the cross-channel strategy that combines online with in-store to provide customers with an improved experience). They’ve at least anticipated, if not fully prepared, for this shift in transactions happening within the current decade. Since omnichannel has been proven to work - with 7% of shoppers from online only, 20% of shoppers were store only and the majority (73%) used multiple channels for their shopping. It’s no surprise why savvy retailers are investing in websites better capable of managing the online shopping experience (Source: Harvard Business Review, A Study of 46,000 Shoppers Shows That Omnichannel Retailing Works, 2017). But what can these retailers do to ensure their brick and mortar locations also provide operational value?

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