Bianca Barath
The rise in digital consumption – whether it’s entertainment or the purchase of goods is definitely making brick and mortar stores less relevant. The ease of shopping, an array of brands to choose from , attractive offers and discounts and same day delivery options (think Amazon Prime!) have resulted in plummeting sales of traditional brick and mortar retail stores.
So is it the end of the road for brick and mortar startups?
Let’s start with analysing the factors that deter the retail store sales when they are up against an online store:
1. Physical cost of maintaining a store: The upfront cost is huge. The monthly rent, the cost to do it up and of course, the staff required to run it. Compare it to maintaining an online store that entails just the website creation cost and online marketing budget. It is a fraction of the traditional setup.
2. Measurable returns: The biggest advantage for ecommerce stores is that every marketing activity can be substantiated with a measurable return on investment. You may invest in email marketing campaigns, Facebook ads, tweak webpage to up your user experience. Every dollar invested could be tracked, analyzed and . Unlike in a traditional setup where it is complicated to workout. Check out our Top 5 tips for marketing your e-commerce business
3. Inventory Management: Most online stores follow the marketplace model, so those that run the website don’t necessarily have to worry about procuring the goods or getting them delivered. That cost is borne by vendors who sell on the online store. In contrast, the traditional setup involves constant haggling with the middlemen to procure the items in addition to strategically placing them in stores where they can be accessible to potential buyers.
4. Ease of shopping: Online shopping is undeniably much more pleasurable than visiting a brick and mortar store (unless you have a bad internet connection). You can do it anytime of the week, get the items delivered to your office or home and don’t have to worry about finding a parking spot or lugging a big bag around.
Although the digital shopping experience is taking the world of buyers by storm , shipping still poses a big threat for ecommerce stores. Nobody wants to get stuck calling customer care for a package that they’ve already paid for but didn’t get delivered.
Also, customers pining for tactile experience still flock to brick and mortar stores. If only brick and mortar stores could combine the speed and convenience of online shopping, and give us something that online shopping doesn’t give us (they’ll have to think a little hard about that one) then maybe you and me would give brick and mortar another shot.
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