It’s been written about a lot: online shopping is disrupting brick-and-mortar retail stores.
We’re seeing brick-and-mortar stores evolve into omnichannel retailers that bridge the physical and virtual space, becoming what is termed brick-and-click.
This wonderful blend of physical and digital has allowed IKEA to let customers visualise items in a house through the power of an augmented reality app, giving ‘try before you buy’ a new dimension. Other corporate giants are getting involved with this trend too such as Disney, Starbucks and Nordstrom, who use traditional storefronts to enhance their digital retail experience.
While it’s easy for shoppers to interact with this evolving use of technology, what does it mean for retailers? Realistically, every retail should reconsider their strategies and change their mindset to understand how recent technologies will — and can — affect their business.
However, transitioning from a traditional, much more siloed, business model to an omnichannel business model can be a big challenge. For companies wanting to support a more omnichannel customer experience, an increased engagement of technology is required. They need to adopt the behaviours of these big tech companies.
