Here’s an interesting figure. Only 20 percent of retail sales are purely brick and mortar, meaning no pre-purchase researching online, according to a new UPS study conducted by comScore.
And for the first time, retail sales have crossed an important line–there are now more online sales (51 percent) than brick and mortar sales, the study found. The study is based on responses by 5,000 people who shop online at least twice or more every 3 months.
Seventeen percent of respondents plan to shop less in stores, and will spend more time shopping online.
And the respondents are turning to top Internet discounters earlier in the shopping process. About a third of the respondents (34 percent) now begin their shopping at a traditional Internet discounter like Amazon or eBay.
All of these statistics are expected to continue to tip in favor of online sales. Smartphone use is now up to 77 percent (up 10 points in the past two years), according to UPS.
Plus leading online retailers are experimenting with brick and mortar showrooms and these are meeting with initial success, it said.
So how does the brick and mortar specialist fight back?
Well, half of those who buy online still pick the product up at a physical store. And 46 percent of those shoppers make a purchase while at the brick and mortar store.
Read that again. Half of those who buy online have the product shipped to a physical store. And almost half of those shoppers make a purchase while at the brick and mortar store.
Retailers may want to work with suppliers and services like Shopatron to create in-store pickup options from a web site.
And most shoppers (60 percent) prefer to return items to a store. Also 70 percent buy something else at the store when they return an item, said UPS.
So UPS suggests that brick and mortar stores beef up their online presence. “Providing detailed product information with good photography, professional and peer reviews, and online access to store inventory are critical,” says Teresa Finley UPS Chief Marketing Officer.
Source: comScore
Photo credit: Best Buy
Let’s be honest. Retail stores are dead. History, gone forever. The sooner we realize it the better. Funniest thing is that TWICE magazine had this article on their site and removed it when they realized their retailers will pull their advertising with this article posted. The Fat Lady has sang.
So in the “perfect world” model for the online discount retailers would be to sell their marked down, low margin products online and then if the customer needs any level of service or warranty including returns than the customer visit an authorized dealer for that product who is a brick and mortar and let them deal with the issues? Actually, this particular scenario is becoming more frequent and I am seeing this as a revenue stream and opportunity because I charge the customer for labor and time. Most customers are understanding about being charged while others not so much. We go to great lengths to explain that we are not about to provide warranty or replace defective parts even though we are an authorized dealer for that brand which was purchased online. There is no way to overcome the sunami which is Amazon so I find myself looking for chinks and cracks in the armor hoping to squeeze out a small niche to keep the doors open. It’s coming down to labor being the driving force that keeps us in business while the margins of products sold keep shrinking to “not worth my time to carry”.
The stats are pretty real in terms of consumer behavior. Personally, I get more information from shopping ANY category, including 12V, when I go online and not when I talk to a single, local source for information.
Did you learn all what you know about the English language or math from your high-school teachers? If so, chances are you’re probably not as intelligent as others who gathered information from all sorts of sources — including many online ones. Knowledge is power and learning from as many sources as possible is crucial in many areas of our lives, especially shopping. Informed buying may not be the most profitable for the seller, but it is the most rewarding for the customer.
Lastly, and in an ironic “in defense of B&M”, the survey was conducted by comScore — which happens to be an online survey company. I am quite confident that if the survey was outside a local mall in Milwaukee, they would get a slightly different set of results. Chances are it would still be obvious that we’re going to more online sales, but I do not believe it would not be as drastic as the comScore study shows.
Unfortunately this is how shoppers destroy our country by buying stuff online and sending their money to other countries in order to save money. The majority of my customers when buying stuff online and goes bad in a month or two, they don’t bother to ship it back and they end up buying it again at the store because they know if it goes bad the store will exchange it for them without the hassle of shipping and waiting. Recently, after showing my customers the benefits of buying things from us compared to buying it online, I noticed an increase in sales this year and last year. Stores must fight back and mainly ask the customer before he or she click on the buy button to think for a minute to whom they are sending their money to? America is invaded economically by China and others and if we don’t stand and support each others, this country will be doomed. Next time you drive in your car see how many Orientals driving an American made car compared to how many Americans driving foreign car.
God bless America.
“Orientals” is not the preferred nomenclature…. Asian-American, please.
lets have a round of applause for immediate gratification and poor impulse control.
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