E-tailers taking the offline route

Every single day we hear a new story about the rivalry between online retailers and how they are trying to capture a lion’s share in the online retail space. Every six months either Flipkart or amazon India is declared the market leader. Every month we see a new offer from these retailers in different categories and news about possible funding from investors. With all the competition and buzz around online retailers, you would think that most of the retail transactions happen online. But let me give you the real picture. Despite all the promotions and cut throat competition, traditional brick - and - mortar stores still command close to 94% of all retail sales. This is the major reason why some of the big players like Flipkart and amazon are experimenting a foray into offline stores to improve their sales and in turn, increase their profits.

E-commerce is the future and with the ever increasing internet user base in India, it’s fair to say that e-commerce is making a difference in India. But, despite that offline retail is still the king in India. Some of the reasons why major online retailers are trying to go offline are listed below –

• Physical touch – Despite so many technological advancements in this space, technology can never replace the feeling of touching a product. We can compare air conditioners online or find best deals on mobile phones but the experience of going to the store and seeing & engaging with the products makes the buying experience all the more better. Camera comparison is only possible when you click a picture from it, seeing pictures on the internet does not give the full experience.

• New market – India is a huge country, despite an internet base of close to 500 million people still many people are not aware of e-commerce websites. An offline retail store gives the option to reach customers who cannot be reached online despite all the marketing and buzz.

• Human interaction – Here we are not talking about interaction over emails or instant chat. Human interactions in retail lead to a better customer experience and increase the probability of selling the product. Shoppers may build a personal connection with the associates and store associates can use this connection to upsell products.

• Another channel – Offline store should be thought of as a natural extension of the digital space with a much bigger reach. They don’t have to compromise their digital presence but merge the two in such a way that the customer gets the best of both worlds.

Both online shopping and offline shopping is here to stay. The e-commerce websites need to understand that and build their operations in a way that when you compare air conditioners online or are finding the best deals or when you are doing a camera comparison offline in their offline retail store, everything should be seamless and both offline and online complement each other.