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After\na successful stint online, e-commerce companies in India are now\nventuring into a world they thought they would drive into extinction:\nthe brick and mortar space. Lenskart (online eyewear shop), Zivame\n(lingerie e-commerce player), and Pepperfry (online furniture company)\nare among the players to have opened a physical store in India, a\ncountry where e-commerce spend is still less than 2% of total retail\nspending, according to a study by Deloitte.This is at a time\nwhen every industry is trying to make its presence felt online. And\ne-tailers certainly enjoy some clear strengths. For instance, a web\nstore is always up and available, its reach unlimited by geography.\nHowever, online firms have found it hard to grow beyond a certain\nnumber in terms of customer acquisition, which is making it more and\nmore necessary to have a brick-and-mortar store along with online\npresence.
A physical store is a great brand building exercise\nsince it has high recall value for a customer. “The brand experience\nthat one gets in a store is incomparable as there is a touch and feel\nelement to it. Also, stores are a good place to bring on board a\ncustomer who has never shopped online,” says Ankur Bisen, senior vice\npresident at Technopak, a management consulting firm.
Of course,\nthere are products that could be picked off a website with little\nconsideration to the retail environment, like a pair of headphones or\nbaby diapers. But some products such as clothing or jewelry have a\ntouch-feel element where a physical retail environment can complement\nthe product.
Case in point, online lingerie retailer Zivame\nwhich so far has opened eight stores across the country and plans to\nhave 30 more by the end of March 2017. “Since we are in the lingerie\nspace, we know for a fact that most women in India wear ill-fitted\nbras,” says Richa Kar, CEO of Zivame. “With only an online presence it\nwas difficult for us to guide them. We piloted the concept in our\noffice where many women walked in and expressed their concern\nsurrounding the lingerie issues they were facing. This probed us to\ntake the next step and establish Fit Studios across the country.” Kar\nbelieves this has helped the company attract customers who would be\nhesitant shopping online because of issues over fit.
India’s top\nonline fashion portal Myntra has its own reasons to venture offline. It\nis confident that this is an important step in strengthening the online\nfashion segment. “Fashion is a touch and experience based category,”\nsays Ananth Narayanan, CEO at Myntra. “In order to initiate more\nshoppers to try fashion online, we are looking at an omni channel\ndistribution approach that allows us to create multiple touch points\nfor customers.” The firm’s tech-enabled stores, which is expected to\nopen in the next two quarters, will have digital walls to help\ncustomers navigate and browse products.
It’s a global phenomenon<\/span>
The\ntrend is not unique to India. Globally, players like Amazon, Birchbox\nand Bonobos in the U.S., Spartoo in France, Astley Clarke in the UK and\nAlibaba in China are all expanding beyond just the online space.\nAlthough Amazon is an established player in the global retail\ne-commerce market which is expected to reach $2.5 trillion by 2018,\ne-commerce still represents less than 10% of the global retail market.\nHence, even for these global players, offline presence is inevitable if\nthey wish to attract more customers.
Devangshu\nDutta of Third Eyesight, a consulting firm focused on the retail and\nconsumer products ecosystem, says online companies so far have\npresented themselves dramatically different from offline players. He\nsees this as a mistake. “I do not see online separate from offline.\nCustomers may want to interface a brand at different places and hence\nit becomes imperative for them to provide a seamless experience.” For\ninstance, a customer might seek initial comparative information online,\nstep into a department store to try a product, pay for it online and\nhave the product delivered at home. Consequently, companies need to\nmake sure that the experience is uniform across channels.<\/span>
Online\nand offline both are essentially aimed at expanding reach and engaging\nwith shoppers in more customized ways, thereby providing convenience.\nThis is an emerging trend which will play an important role for online\nretailers in the days to come, for those who choose to embrace the\nbackwards step.<\/span>
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