Ecommerce vs Brick and Mortar Stores: Which has a Better Future?

1. Ecommerce vs Brick and Mortar Stores: Which has a Better Future? Online retailing has become ubiquitous and traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers have been considering how to effectively incorporate the new distribution channels into their existing networks. The popularity of online retailing has created great opportunities and challenges for retailers. A key challenge faced by many retailers is the choice between the clicks, the bricks-and-mortar, and the bricks-and-clicks strategies. In today's market, virtually all large brick-and-mortar retailers also have a strong online presence. For small brick-and-mortar businesses, deciding whether or not to spend the time and effort to expand into online sales is less clear. According to ecomm development stats, only about 28 percent of small businesses make their sales through the internet. Why Customers Purchase Online? Aside from the ability to compare product specifications and browse reviews, online shopping has a number of other advantages: 1. Saving money - Online shopping allows the customer to compare pricing and find the best possible deals. 2. Saving time - In-store shopping can be hugely time-consuming, particularly if it involves visits to multiple stores in different locations.

2. 3. Convenience - Many people dislike crowds, cashier lineups, etc., and prefer to shop from home. 4. Availability - Hard to find items are much easier to source online. 5. Being able to shop 24/7 6. Not having to use a personal vehicle and deal with parking and other issues or take transit to shop in-store. Why Some Customers Prefer Brick-and-Mortar Shopping? 1. Being able to physically interact with an item before buying, particularly with personal items such as clothes, cosmetics, furniture, etc., or with grocery items that need to be checked for quality and freshness. 2. Goods can be obtained immediately rather than waiting for shipping. 3. The ability to speak directly to a sales representative and get further information and advice about products or services. 4. Avoiding shipping costs. 5. Avoiding the hassle and complexity of returning unwanted items.

3. There are some of the differences that are worthwhile to understand if you’re planning to launch a retail business: 1. The attention of the customers One of the major challenges for e-commerce organizations is how to deliver a personalized experience to every consumer. You’re not physically present while people are shopping; although you’re effectively just an email, phone call, or chat box away, and consumers tend to crave instant gratification, which means they’ll often abandon a cart whenever they have a question rather than wait (or worse, have to search) for a response. Brick-and-mortar shops, on the other hand, have an advantage in being able to provide – and even volunteer – immediate customer service. There is almost always someone right there in the store for visitors to talk to. Even if the customer service is subpar, most consumers prefer to speak with a real person face to face, rather than through a phone. Hire eCommerce developers @ upto 60% less cost 2. Marketing Brick-and-mortar and e-commerce stores can market and promote their organizations differently as well. Brick-and-mortar stores will often use traditional forms of advertising such as television and radio commercials, newspapers, and billboards E-commerce organizations, on the other hand, can purchase advertising through traditional methods, but those are rarely regarded as effective when compared with social media and digital advertising. Because they operate generally in the online space, digital advertising tends to be more effective for these firms, so they see little reason to venture into older marketing approaches. 3. Increase upsell revenue Brick and mortars armed with BOPIS can do what online-only stores cannot. They can get customers through the door where they can make additional impulse buys. In fact, 49% of BOPIS shoppers are willing to purchase additional items in-store when collecting their online orders. Retailers can take advantage of this with attractive displays, in-store sales, and using store associates to up-sell. 4. Customer experiences

4. One of the major drawbacks of eCommerce-only stores is that customers cannot experience products as they do in physical stores. With BOPIS options, brick and mortar have the advantage of letting their customers see and feel the product before taking it home. If the items are not as expected, the store can perform an immediate return. Without the hassle of mail returns, customer satisfaction rises. More in-store traffic also means more opportunities to have meaningful and memorable face-to-face interactions with them. Human touchpoints always provide a greater impression on customers than online. Store associates can enhance customer experience by providing excellent service, style suggestions, and notify them of current sales. This welcoming experience can easily win customer loyalty and give you an edge over your competitors. 5. Sale transaction Although technology is steadily advancing to allow remote exchanges such as Apple Pay and mobile transactions, most brick-and-mortar outlets accept only cash, credit cards, or checks as legal means for the purchase of their goods and services. E-commerce outfits also accept cards, but most of them don’t have a way to take payment by cash or checks. They can accept other options for completing a transaction such as PayPal. Some e-commerce platforms – but only the rare physical store – also accept cryptocurrency tender like Bitcoin. Final Thoughts So it could be said that there’s plenty of room for both eCommerce and brick-and-mortar retailing. In the future, we will only see more and more efforts to align these channels as they continue to strengthen one another. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Again I would like to say that after reading the whole blog, you might be aware of the fact that both eCommerce and brick-and-mortar are playing an important role individually. The best thing would be for brick-and-mortar stores to do online retailing also. If you are done with your decision then you can contact the best eCommerce development company in India that can provide you the best service at the most affordable cost. GoodLuck!