Brick-and-mortar gets online
As omnichannel commerce continues to grow in popularity, this approach of providing a seamless shopping experience across all retail channels (in-store, online, and mobile) is impacting traditional brick-and-mortar stores as well as E-Commerce giants. Brick-and-mortar was previously thought of as a dying method of shopping, but the amount of sales in these outlets has increased over the past 5 years, as cited in the yStats.com report. Concepts like webrooming (browsing products online and then purchasing in-store) and showrooming (browsing products in-store and then purchasing online) are increasingly playing a larger role in consumer purchasing decisions and are helping to keep brick-and-mortar alive.
E-Commerce goes back to basics
Giants such as Amazon in the U.S., JD.com in Asia, and Zalando in Europe have all wanted to join the omnichannel trend and are now expanding their physical store presences. In the U.S., Amazon’s top rival happens to be brick-and-mortar superstore, Walmart, and in turn, has invested into opening book shops and Amazon Go convenience stores. Zalando has now opened five stores in its home base of Germany and JD.com also follows suit in its home market of China.
Emerging markets and omnichannel
As both Internet infrastructure and physical infrastructure continue to evolve in emerging markets, omnichannel has made quite an influential impact. In China, over one-third of all sales are affected by the Internet which makes it the omnichannel leader among other emerging markets. JD.com is seen taking advantage of this trend by pushing for more brick-and-mortar locations. By 2022, digital processes will impact nearly half of all retail sales in emerging economies. Furthermore, only a fifth of these impacted sales will be on E-Commerce platforms.
The omnichannel commerce has drawn interest from traditional and E-Commerce businesses and is making an impact on the future of consumer shopping behavior in both established and emerging markets.
For more details on this trend, see the report “Global Omnichannel Commerce Trends 2018” by yStats.com.
