I read an article in retailwire titled “Its time for retailers to transform their stores”
http://www.retailwire.com/Discussions/Sngl_Discussion.cfm/13606#poll
The author Natt Fry looks into why on-line sales are outpacing in-store sales from a growth and customer satisfaction perspective.
Her big four reasons for this trend were:
1) Rapid product and price comparisons available on-line
2) Growing public comfort with on-line security and overall convenience
3) Increased access to the internet
4) Superior analytics and consumer insights that can be derived from e-commerce allow for more targeted offerings
These are clearly the strengths of e-commerce – the question is what can traditional bricks and mortar retailer do to level the trend?
The answer must be differentiation. In-store retail has something the web can never offer which is the ability for the consumer to interact with your products and the opportunity for sales people offer value to the client at the point of purchase.
