The image of shop-filled streets is ingrained in the minds of many. We often visualize light-filled streets filled with merry people enjoying themselves, shopping for food or gifts during special occasions and holidays. However, as we enter the second decade of the 21st century, this mental image is fast becoming passe.
The world has evolved considerably, with many factors contributing to the rapid changes. Let’s look at what truly happened and where brick-and-mortar shops are heading.
Store-less Shops
The arrival of the internet in the global realm in 1991 wasn’t exactly met with much public fanfare. Many saw it as a fad, exclusive to technology enthusiasts, and that it won’t play a significant role in society. Fast forward to today, visualizing a world without the internet is very difficult. It has brought upon a slew of conveniences that’s been utilized to its absolute efficiency that the world won’t be able to function without.
Specifically, the innovations in financial technology and web development have allowed businesses not to need a physical store anymore. Efficient payment methods, real-time tracking of deliveries, and many other innovations comprise modern companies. E-commerce has become a formidable force in world commerce, so most prefer online transactions to live and face-to-face dealings. So, where does this leave brick-and-mortar businesses?
The Evolution of Brick and Mortar Businesses
There are still a lot of benefits to owning a brick-and-mortar shop. There’s even merit to going about and renovating your space, like improving its interior design, putting up some good commercial-grade windows, and implementing both convenience and safety features. Of course, this is on top of the constant evolution and physical adaptation stores are going under. With the unforeseen changes happening worldwide, physical shops are in an exciting situation. Let’s look at both the changes and how businesses adapt.
Multi-Channel Sales
Brick-and-mortar is not dead, and it’s changing right before our eyes. From simple shops with quaint display windows, we are now shifting to digitizing retail. Online e-commerce websites, rewards apps, social media presence, and other online efforts of various businesses all result in what we now call click-and-mortar shops. This is important in making companies flourish in the digital age, where most people prefer the convenience of online shopping but still enjoy the physical location shopping experience.
Emphasis on Experience
When it comes to experience, many shops focus on a stellar customer service experience, and for a good reason. Many shoppers appreciate good service, one of the top reasons physical locations are still alive. Especially now that many people are going back outside and are eager to relive the experiences we couldn’t do during the lockdown, training frontline staff on customer interaction is necessary.
Apart from interactions with people, customers also want to interact with the spaces they go to positively. Many shops also work on creating a great ambiance, practical layout for maximum foot traffic, and cleanliness. Enhancing sanitation and hygiene in shops, particularly on high-touch surfaces, is a must, so you can give customers the confidence to enter and shop around.
Seeing the Product as It Is
Another way that retail shops take advantage of having physical and virtual stores is to give their customers a more holistic shopping experience. Shoppers expect to see ithe actual products they see online in physical locations and vice versa. The obvious benefit of physical over digital is the ability to touch and interact with the consequences.
The convenience of digital purchases cannot replace the level of trust this develops. While it sounds like a primary reason, it’s enough for many people to prefer physical mediums over digital ones.
Going Back to the Streets
Finally, having been forced to stay home and avoid going out, the desire to actually go out, socialize, and be out and about is more vital than ever. Businesses with physical locations are poised to take advantage of customers’ desire to return to traditional shopping. As the world opens up, this desire will become stronger and more potent than the already significant statistics showing people want to return outside.
E-commerce is not new, but we’ve yet to utilize it fully. In the same vein, physical stores are not dead or dying either. Businesses must integrate digital tools analogously to remain competitive in the retail industry.
