In today's retail landscape, both brick and mortar stores and e-commerce have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. While e-commerce allows for convenience and the ability to shop from anywhere, brick and mortar stores offer a tangible shopping experience and the opportunity for face-to-face interaction with staff. Understanding what is best for you and your brand in the year 2023 and years to come is what we are here for. 

One of the main benefits of brick and mortar stores is the ability to see and touch products in person before making a purchase. The biggest issue about this, is the traffic of consumers going to brick and mortar stores is on a major decline. While brick and mortar may not be completely dying, making sure you align your brand with the right one is more important than ever. Brands can be picky about which brick and mortar to go into. You want to make sure it has high traffic and an added benefit would be if they also have an ecommerce store you can be on. 

Brick and mortar stores also offer the opportunity for personalized experiences and customer service. Staff members are available to answer questions and offer expert advice, which can be especially useful for complex or technical products. This is also the best way to upsell to consumers. This level of interaction is often lost in the online shopping experience. 

E-commerce is the most important way for brands to sell moving forward. The margins to sell on an e-commerce store are much better than partnering with a retailer (usually). This is why so many brands are all in on e-commerce. As a brand e-commerce is really where you should invest your time and money. 

While e-commerce has a lot of advantages, it also has the disadvantages… like getting lost with other brands. Standing out as an ecommerce retailer is harder than most realize. To be successful you need a combination of substance and brand loyalty. To gain brand loyalty you have to have a niche that compels the right audience. This is where understanding your why will help guide you to market to the correct audience. Once you determine your positioning then make sure you have the best quality. That is where you will build lifelong customers… with your art, messaging, purpose and premium products.  

Which way should you go?

What we believe is the most important with brick and mortar vs. ecommerce is to marry the two. Take the best of both worlds and add them together. Take the humanization of customer service from brick and mortars and add it to your ecommerce site. Instead of automating everything with chat bots, dedicate a sales associate to your website to help customers that are coming to your website. This is where you can use sales techniques and extra customer service to help set you apart from your competition. 

Overall, having both brick and mortar and e-commerce options is important for retailers in order to meet the diverse needs of their customers. By offering both options, retailers can provide a convenient and personalized shopping experience for all.