After online behemoth Amazon unveiled its physical store in the US recently, a growing number of pure play online retailers are following suit, reveals a report from the Commonwealth Bank.
Based on a survey of senior decision makers in the retail industry, the Retail Insights Report shows that almost one in five online-only retailers are planning a bricks and mortar outlet by early 2017.
Jerry Macey, Commonwealth Bank national manager retail, says online players want to open physical locations to provide a tangible experience for customers and drive further online sales.
“Bricks and mortar and multi-channel retailers are doing more online as customer preferences evolve,” he explains. “At the same time, emboldened digital retailers are opening physical stores to complement and drive further online sales.”
The report also reveals that pure play online retailers are significantly more optimistic about business conditions than their multi-channel peers, with 46 per cent expecting an improvement compared to just 28 per cent of multi-channel businesses.
When looking at the reasons behind retailers’ outlook, the survey found that 95 per cent of those expecting a decline attribute this to economic factors, while 71 per cent indicating an improvement put it down to internal factors like the introduction of new products and business growth.
“Our research shows the most optimistic retailers are those who have taken control of their own destiny, rather than looking to external economic conditions to drive sales growth,” adds Macey.
By Ruth Cooper
