The 21st century has seen the gradual demise of brick-and-mortar businesses and how they are slowly losing their relevance with the rise of digital shops and online shopping. The online shopping world offers convenience to consumers at an unmatched rate because they can do it with a few taps on their devices.
However, there is no substitute for real relationships — human connections established through face-to-face interactions instead of mediated communications. While it is true that digital shops and the entire culture of online shopping is far more convenient for consumers, it cannot eliminate the importance of brick-and-mortar businesses.
If there’s one aspect that brick-and-mortar businesses have over digital stores, it’s that they can have a more direct relationship with their customers. After all, a business is nothing with its customers. Find out why the existence of your brick-and-mortar business is an important part of the culture.
The Relationships Established
Humans are innately social beings who crave connections. They live to create relationships and connect to other human beings that can relate to their experiences. While digital businesses can provide a semblance of human connection, it doesn’t hold a candle to what brick-and-mortar businesses can offer.
Imagine this situation: you are a retail business owner who has sociable employees that can make your customers feel welcome every time they are in your shop. Your products can be likened to other brands, but your customers continue to patronize your business because they like how they are treated in your shop.
Having a brick-and-mortar business will allow you to connect to your customers in a more personal and meaningful way because you can establish relationships with them. These relationships are an important aspect of retaining customers and building patrons that believe in your brand.
The Sensory Experience
From the perfectly manicured bushes outside your store that are achieved through commercial landscape maintenance to how you welcome the people inside your shop’s premises, there is all part of the sensory experience that you are giving your customers.
Online shopping can be likened to that of window shopping because customers’ will only look at your products without the guarantee that they will be buying from you. But because your customers’ at the physical store can actually hold the products in their hands, they are more likely to buy the items instead of returning them to the racks.
The experience of trying out clothes in the dressing rooms and witnessing how the clothes look on your customers before they buy the item is a huge advantage that brick-and-mortar retail businesses have over digital stores. That, and the ability to be convinced by your employees, can greatly contribute to your gross sales.
When Two Worlds Collide
There is no doubt that brick-and-mortar businesses are still relevant in the 21st century and that their appeal is still too strong to be ignored. However, that doesn’t mean that purely existing in one dimension is a guarantee for success because it isn’t.
Many people still choose to go to physical stores and buy whatever they need, but that doesn’t discount the convenience of shopping online. Therefore, if you want your business to succeed, you will have to adapt to your market demands by existing in both dimensions — digital and traditional.
The decision to exist in both mediums is a huge one, particularly because you will need to expand your business by hiring more skilled employees or diversifying your workforce onto the new business fields. It can also be more difficult to manage both online and offline aspects of the business simultaneously.
But if you were to successfully build a digital shop alongside your brick-and-mortar business, then you will be able to reach greater heights. This is because you can become more accessible to a wider audience, grow your reach, and boost your sales in the process.
Having a digital shop can also be a compelling marketing strategy because your prospecting customers can have a preview of what they can expect to find in your store even before they get there. If you know how to market your brand efficiently, your business will become a force to be reckoned with.
Nowadays, it’s not enough to stay in one lane and use age-old tactics, especially if you’re aiming for success. You have to constantly be on the lookout for up-and-coming trends, innovations, and developments in your industry that can help put your business on the map while working to make it stay there.
