When e-commerce started getting popular, a lot of experts suggested that offline retailers will become extinct, but this doesn’t seem to happen looking at the response physical retail stores are getting. After capturing the online market, big companies are moving offline by partnering with brands that are already popular offline. Pepperfry, Myntra, Nyka, Urban Ladder and Health Kart are are some names who are growing their physical stores by using strategies traditional retailers haven’t yet imagined.
On talking about the latest marketing trends, Ambareesh Murty, Founder of Pepperfry said in a recent interview “It is the duty of every business to ensure that it is present wherever the customer wants it to be. My customer is sometimes online, at times offline and then on mobile sometimes. I will engage with my consumers as per the platform they access.”
Negatives of e-commerce
There is no doubt that e-commerce has changed the way of doing business, still the problem is, it has removed the human factor from shopping which doesn’t evolve the emotions physical shopping has. To solve this, many innovations are being used to give customers the feel and touch of physical stores but that hasn’t happened properly.
Online turning offline
Nykaa after making a good name in the online space has expanded the business offline to become an Omni-channel destination in the beauty and skincare segment. Nykaa currently has around 20 stores in India. Myntra too, is expanding its current offline presence by increasing its brick-and-mortar store count. This shows that the race in fashion and personal care industry has already started.
Also Read: Big Online Companies Are Working To Shift Offline
Offline turning online
The biggest example for Indian market is the Walmart-Flipkart deal. Walmart acquired a 77 percent stake in Flipkart, for $16 billion and the Swedish furniture giant IKEA, has also set up its first store in Hyderabad. Ikea has plans to open more stores in India by investing around Rs. 20,000 crore in the country. It is important for IKEA to invest in different channels such as physical stores, mobile and pop-up stores, to maximize the reach and make the most of its investment in India.
Also Read: How To Integrate Digital Marketing With Offline Marketing Strategy Perfectly
Reasons for online and offline integration
With the integration, customers have affordable, personalized shopping experience. This will remove the disadvantages of each channel and get the best of two and expand sales. It is expected that technology will play the major role in bringing both approaches together in a productive way.
