Today, in the age of online shopping, flash sales and Groupon, some retailers believe that digital strategy is their “silver bullet.” In reality, it’s a relentless drive to master their customer relationships in a way that integrates and maximizes the power of each channel that is the key: from specialty retail to mobile and beyond – as well as all touch points – from marketing to social media to ecommerce. Retailers must be firing on all cylinders. Yet with all this newness and buzz, what sets truly innovative marketers apart is a single, counterintuitive insight: The in-store shopping experience matters now, more than ever.
Broadly, three factors are driving the importance of the modern in-store brand experience. The first is the inherent limit of the e-commerce experience: People still want to see, touch and feel products, and do so with others—ideally in a community of the brand loyal. Only a store can deliver that full experience. Just ask Piperlime – who recently announced their first real-world retail store, a shift from their online-only strategy. Second, with our current economic stagnation, we are shopping less, but we want our experiences to provide more – not merely a trip to the mall, but rather an escape. Third, with the use of mobile continuing to grow, evolve and become increasingly important, brands that successfully merge online and real-world experiences—often using mobile as the bridge – are seeing the benefit in their bottom lines.
via Clicks And Mortar: Why In-Store Experience Matters (Now More Than Ever) – Forbes.