As this retail
revolution carves its way through established retail practices, we are constantly
looking for some bedrock, some indication of how the revolution will settle on a
new order that we can all access.
One major
debate surrounds the role of online and physical stores, and at last we may
have some clarity. The debate started with the premise that online would
replace physical stores, and understandably retailers started to get very
nervous. Then a couple of onliner’s opened up physical stores, most notably
Amazon having desecrated the book industry with its online offer, opened a
standard bookstore. It had a lot of technology and links with websites but it
was a store you could visit and browse. More followed and the debate shifted to
how online and physical stores could co-exist.
A spectacle
company, Warby Parker, has provided the latest indication that we might have bedrock. Warby Parker started off solely online. Apparently the premise was
that the founders could not afford a chain of physical stores but they could
afford a website and with some clever technology and clear focus, they thrived.
Then they took the step of opening a few physical stores and now they have
eight. The good news (let’s make that “great news”) is that they now conduct
more sales through their physical store than online – see https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/11/future-retail/546119/
The Atlantic
article states – “They were averaging $3,000 a square foot annually, higher
than Tiffany, Ralph Lauren, and practically every company not named Apple. By
the end of this year, the company will have about 65 storefronts.” It should be
noted that more than half Warby Parker’s customers go to their website before
they visit a store.
There are two things to be taken from this example –
1.
Physical stores are not dead, they are
just evolving.
2.
A website is the key to being part of
this evolution.
