The past three decades have seen ecommerce rise from a plucky new upstart in an already established business ecosystem to one of if not the most dominant form of commerce on the globe. Companies such as Amazon revolutionized trade in a major way and allowed companies to significantly spread their reach and serve more customers than they could have previously dreamed of before.
With many businesses having either merchant websites or a social media presence to help them attract and retain more customers when the pandemic hit, switching to contactless purchases and home deliveries was relatively easy.
After over three years of online buying, consumers are getting increasingly reliant on the convenience ecommerce offers. They can look through numerous merchant sites for whatever they need from the comfort of their homes instead of going out and perusing through brick-and-mortar shops.
On the other hand, some consumers prefer to visit physical shops and make their purchases onsite; this shows in the slowing ecommerce growth rate.
Although some predicted that the end of physical retail stores was nigh during the coronavirus pandemic when ecommerce enjoyed double-digit growth rates, it is clear that a significant portion of the population choose retail stores when offered the option.
Instead of seeing ecommerce and physical shops as competing forces, companies would do well to consider them as two sides of the same coin. At the end of the day, it’s not about which channel the business is using, it’s about enhancing the customer experience and retaining as many customers as possible.
Rather than choose a single sales channel, retailers should develop strategies that leverage both channels to increase customer options and reduce friction. Such a strategy would likely include channels that make it easy for customers to browse through inventory, purchase, and receive products whenever and however they want.
This strategy shouldn’t focus only on ecommerce as a substantial amount of trade still takes place in physical stores. According to data collected by Coresight Research, an estimated 75% to 80% of retail trade occurs in brick-and-mortar stores.
Retailers should also prioritize building and strengthening relationships with business partners and customers through automation, multivariant testing, offering multiple communication channels and providing personalized content to customers.
Some retailers are adapting to e-commerce by converting their physical stores into fulfillment centers for e-commerce while others are combining physical sales and ecommerce to try and reach a wider market.
Leveraging multiple communication channels to collect feedback from customers will allow you to tailor your channels to your customers’ needs and make all interactions as frictionless as possible.
With companies such as NextPlat Corp. (NASDAQ: NXPL) (NASDAQ: NXPLW) taking their ecommerce to various industries, including the healthcare industry, online sales are likely to penetrate every segment of the retail industry.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NextPlat Corp. (NASDAQ: NXPL) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/NXPL
About BioMedWire
BioMedWire (BMW) is a bio-med news and content distribution company that provides (1) access to a network of wire services via InvestorWire to reach all target markets, industries and demographics in the most effective manner possible, (2) article and editorial syndication to 5,000+ news outlets (3), enhanced press release services to ensure maximum impact, (4) social media distribution via the Investor Brand Network (IBN) to millions of social media followers, (5) a full array of corporate communications solutions, and (6) a total news coverage solution with BMW Prime. As a multifaceted organization with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, BMW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. By cutting through the overload of information in today’s market, BMW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. BMW is where news, content and information converge.
To receive SMS text alerts from BioMedWire, text “Biotech” to 844-397-5787 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information, please visit https://www.biomedwire.com
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
BioMedWire (BMW)
San Francisco, California
www.biomedwire.com
415.949.5050 Office
[email protected]
BioMedWire is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork.