In the debate of retailing versus etailing, the truth today is somewhere in the middle. While e-tailers worldwide are a growing breed, it is also true that the e-retailers are feeling the need of getting into physical formats be it small stores where customers can walk in, feel and see products and then order online for convenient delivery, lenskart being an example of that. On the other hand, retailers are upping the game by going the multi-channel route and we see the line between etailing and retailing blur somewhere.
To be able to capitalise on these trends, it’s important for the physical store retailers to understand the reasons behind the changing behaviours. According to PwC’s Global Multi-Channel survey, the top two reasons shoppers
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This, in the most obvious case, helps beat the infrastructural issues and cost but, on the other hand, also gives more options in the hands of the customer. However, in most cases, where the retailer has gone into non-physical formats, it’s an ‘also-ran’ for them. Most of them are moving into that format because everyone is, and not because it is a serious way to get geo-expansion, getting customer loyalty and market share. It is important for the physical retailer to take the multi-channel option as a big driver for growth. This requires a change in operations, the way analytics is used, the way technology is scaled, the way marketing is done and retailers need to create business models that will take into account all these …show more content…
There are categories that are researched online and bought in-store. For example, the PwC survey showed that in the computer and electronics segment, 59% people researched the products online but only 43% bought them online. As many as 45% people researched furniture and homeware online but only 32% bought them online. Similarly, 51% of the buyers researched household appliances online and only 36% bought them online. This would mean that shoppers are today walking into stores to buy certain categories more than the others. The retailer, hence, needs to look at the category mix and realign them to drive sales