Retail Store Advantages To Win From Online Shopping

In this article we take a closer look at retail VS online shopping. What are the retail store advantages and disadvantages compared to online shopping? You will then discover how you can make a difference with a retail store and how to outweigh webshops. The customer needs are central to this.

Online shopping has come of age and that has clearly left its mark on the physical retail landscape. Great names have disappeared, pioneers have risen and become great. New rules apply, whereby consumers have different expectations.

Suppose you have a brick and mortar store for 10, 20 or 30 years and you love meeting and serving people. Then you may see online shopping as a threat. You prefer to keep the focus on the store and do not want to pay attention managing a webshop. Then it might be interesting to see what extra benefits online shopping offers in combination with your physical shop.

On the other hand, you may be thinking about opening a new store. Is it better to start with an online or physical location? Compare the advantages and disadvantages below, so that you can make success with your business.

The retailer is successful if it can sell and retain ‘value’. Therefore, to win from online shopping we should focus on the customer needs. These are the most important customer expectations that are in favor of a physical store:

The brand experience is still physical. A complete experience of a brand can be presented in a store. That is not surprising, because in addition to seeing and hearing, the consumer can also feel and smell here. That remains different from a web page or photo and video on Social Media.

Research also shows that consumers are more likely to buy if they can actually touch the product. For this, a customer can also have the product delivered at home. However, a retail store reduces the return costs, because people only take it with them after they have seen and tried it.

A quick delivery time is also part of the great experience. If a consumer is interested, he would like to have it right now. This is an unbeatable advantage of the physical store. If the product is in stock, you don’t have to wait a day for it to be delivered. You will have it in your possession within an hour.

Customers want personal attention, so staff really make the difference in the store. Therefore, invest in an expert and friendly team. Consumers are looking for a reliable party for information and advice. Especially when it comes to complicated products that require a lot of explanation or products with many possibilities.

Another advantage of the retail store, compared to a webshop, is that it is easier to build a deeper customer relationship. Much of the communication is non-verbal with, for example, body posture. You can make a real connection on a personal level with your store visitor.

Furthermore, you can immediately do a free market research among your customers. Consumers will not easily share their hobbies via a website, but in a personal conversation it is easier to find out more about a customer. Do not forget to process this data in your CRM system. This gives more opportunities to exceed customer expectations. The customer also often has more time in the store and there are fewer distractions. Online visitors are less concentrated and can quickly switch to another webshop. This also gives more responsibility to make the customer happy, because he has made the effort to step in your shop anyway.

Another major customer need is the wish for unburdening. Services come in many shapes and sizes, but a local store still has an edge in this. With a business that is far away, you sooner feel that you can’t fall back on it. The store thus has the advantage that it is easier to sell additional services with the product. For example, installing the washing machine or putting together a new bed in someone’s home.

In addition, you can also show the craftsmanship in the brick and mortar store. For example, if you have a repair workshop, you can record videos here. Of course, people can also drop by to really experience it. This has a trusted impression on consumers.

As a retailer, you can also respond well to the theme of sustainability. For example, there are fewer returns and fewer shipping costs. The local aspect plays an important role in this. The customer must of course come to the store.

Furthermore, good quality is an important part of sustainability. But you often see that quality products need more explanation as they are a bit more expensive. This is where the personal connection and expertise of employees comes in handy. So an extra advantage compared to a webshop.

Customer need is also shifting more and more from ownership to use. The local store can provide this well. You have more options to carry out repairs or give products a second life. A nice statement that will certainly bring in new customers. This is especially interesting for service oriented shops, such as jewelers.

Finally, there is the consumer need for tailor-made and personalized products. The retail store can also better focus on this. Because it is nice if the customer can come by to see and discuss different options. Therefore, try to find ways to personalize your range.

To get straight to the point; as you can see in the chapter above, just having a brick and mortar store is not enough these days to serve your customers. With a webshop you meet the disadvantages of a physical store. Make sure you integrate this well with your current system when you start with it. Otherwise, it will yield little or nothing. I wrote more about this in the article ‘ Five things you should know about store automation ‘.

Let’s discover how a webshop compliments your store by briefly discussing the above ten points. We will do this based on three customer needs:

With the smartphone and the internet , everything has become accessible at any time. This has changed consumer expectations. A customer nowadays wants to be helped immediately (or to be able to help themselves). A webshop is open 24/7 while a physical store is only accessible at fixed times and not on holidays, for example. The ‘online shopping window‘ is therefore a good way to serve customers outside opening hours.

Another important point is the customer tracking options. There are some marketing systems available for in-store, but the digital world goes a lot further in this. Online, people leave a trail that can tell us more about their hobbies and needs. This has made it easier for the retailer to find new customers worldwide. The world is open!

Because everything has become accessible to consumers (also from abroad). That is why the threshold has become higher to go directly to the store for inspiration and to buy. After all, you have to put in more effort visiting a shop than to open it on your phone. According to Think With Google, it is therefore important to also show your products online. 25% of consumers do not like to come to the store anymore if they are not sure whether the product is in stock. That is quite logical, because if everything is accessible and visible, time has become more and more precious.

In addition, the comfort of a webshop also applies to the owner. Don’t underestimate the work you have to do. But compared to what has to be done in the store, you can serve many more consumers with a webshop. Furthermore, good store staff is harder to find locally than globally. Especially with complicated products, this can be more difficult with a brick-and-mortar store.

It is cheap and easy to start an online store. A physical store requires a higher investment and the monthly costs are also higher. For example, with a store you are in a more expensive location than with a warehouse for a webshop. This leads to price competition.

Nevertheless, it is smart to also have a webshop in addition to a physical store. Of course, you can put the latest collections online for the suggested retail price, so that people know that they can experience it in-store. In addition, consumers are also looking for deals online. It is therefore interesting to organize good discount promotions with products that you would like to sell out.

In addition, you can display many more products online than you can display in the store. For example, think of collections from the supplier that you can order, but do not currently have in stock.

The retail store advantages are still major over online shopping. However, there are certainly disadvantages to mention. Both processes fulfill different consumer needs. That is why it is interesting as a retailer to look for solutions to integrate both into one omnichannel strategy.

As a result, the processes of stores must be set up differently and they must work cost-efficiently in order to be successful. Therefore, digitization plays an important role in this. Strong, reliable IT is needed to help brick-and-mortar stores innovate and grow.