Many retailers struggled to adapt to the growing trend for online retailing during the recession, with the lower prices of cheap imports and the ease of home delivery proving immensely attractive to consumers. However, thanks to initiatives such as click and collect, more and more are recognising the benefits combining technological enhancements with traditional bricks and mortar stores can bring to their businesses.
In fact, a new report by marketing body CACI has revealed that the best performing retailers on the high street are choosing to invest in store expansion as a means of boosting online sales. The research claims that the combination of an easy to use website and a network of stores in areas highly accessible to consumers is key for those seeking to increase sales whilst improving the consumer experience overall.
CACI vice president Toby Goldblatt believes that the line between online and offline shopping is becoming increasingly blurred, indicating that consumers continue to be driven by convenience.
He says; “All across the UK, it is becoming apparent that customers no longer think of online and offline as two different worlds.
“Instead, their main concern is how convenient it is to make a purchase.
“People want to be able to research a product online in the morning and stop by a shop on their way home from work to buy it.”
While this new type of retail synergy is, comparatively speaking, in its early days, retailers have already begun to notice the advantage a strong web offering and a wide network of bricks and mortar bases can bring.
Chains such as Argos and Next, for example, have invested huge amounts into their online offering whilst continuing to open new stores, and currently hold a dominant position in the gap between online only operations such as ASOS and solely high street based retailers such as Primark.
Even at the top end of retailing, this trend has become apparent – click and collect operations now account for 56 per cent of online sales at John Lewis, for instance. As a result, the UK’s number one department store chain has now announced plans to increase its bricks and mortar store portfolio by around 50 per cent, believing that this will further aid online sales growth.
Retailers combining online and offline retailing techniques are also noting an uptick in in-store efficiency the report goes on to claim. During Black Friday last November, CACI’s research noted that shoppers spent around 8 per cent less time in shops, yet due to the ability to check stock and research products online, spending rose by almost 10 per cent.
Yet Mr Goldblatt warns that this type of partnership between online and offline retailing only works when retailers listen to their customers.
He concludes; “As 2015 unfolds, we are likely to see increased awareness of how bricks and mortar drives online sales.
“Alongside this, however, it will be important to remember that in-depth customer data analysis is the backbone of the online/offline synergy.”
