News

Retailers review the role of stores as multi-channel booms

February 22, 2011

An increasing number of consumers are researching products in bricks-and-mortar retail stores before purchasing online, according to new research by Deloitte, a professional service firm in the United Kingdom.

The research found that 21 percent of all Internet transactions involve some research in-store, and retailers are benefiting from their customers using other retail stores as showrooms before completing their purchases online.

“In these challenging markets, multi-channel is going to be the big driver of growth for U.K. retailers over the next few years,” said Ian Geddes, U.K. head of retail at Deloitte. “We see a trend for retailers to use some of their retail footage as showrooms or display areas for a much wider range of products available online. This allows customers the chance to research and test products before completing the transaction at home or through a mobile device.”

Richard Hyman, strategic retail adviser to Deloitte, thinks the traditional "sales per square foot" metric may provide an inaccurate view of the true contribution of the store to the retailer’s revenue.

“In recent years, we have seen a contraction in floor space which has ensured that sales per square foot have remained steady. However, while total floor space decreased by around 12m square feet between 2008 and 2010, Internet retail has added the equivalent of 25m square feet,” said Hyman. “This suggests that either sales per square foot will start to fall or we will see a further contraction in total floor space. Alternatively, landlords and retailers will need to agree a method of calculating the impact of multi-channel. With in-store research, click-and-collect and the in-store return of Internet purchases this is a complex challenge but one which is rapidly rising up the agenda of the property industry.”

These changes in consumer behavior are forcing retailers to assess the future role of their store portfolio and how their in-store products and services offer a coordinated multi-channel strategy.

“Multi-channel consumers are also likely to spend more per transaction than store- or direct-only shoppers. Furthermore, it is taking root across society with wide take-up across most social classes and in all corners of the country, with the highest proportion of multi-channel consumers coming from Yorkshire, the East Midlands and Wales,” said Geddes.