Before you know it spring will arrive and along with colorful flowers new stores will sprout welcoming customers who want to shop in person. For a myriad of reasons shopping offline hasn’t lost its appeal among today’s consumers. When referring to the increase of Web retailers opening stores, Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research says in The New York Times:
“Well over 90 percent of sales still happen in physical stores, so there is a huge, compelling reason to think about the physical store as a driver of sales.”
The word has evidently gotten out!
Those that have been selling their wares exclusively online like the Gap’s Piperlime, men’s apparel brand Bonobos (which starting selling at select Nordstrom’s last year) and the eyeglass company Warby Parker, have already or soon will open their own bricks-and-mortar locations. Bonobos’ decision to build physical stores and their Guideshops are explained in the New York Times story cited above.
A retail partnership will bloom in March when the Canadian apparel brand Joe Fresh opens nearly 700 shops within JC Penney department stores across the U.S. Known for its brightly colored clothing at affordable prices for men, women and children, Joe Fresh already operates six stand-alone stores in New York and New Jersey.
Retailing has become a multi-faceted business where it’s necessary to interact with customers face-to-face in addition to doing so via e-commerce websites to build strong brand loyalty and repeat business. This is clearly evident in our neighborhood.
We are located equidistant between New York City and Philadelphia, where the Quaker Bridge Mall has undergone a major transformation. It added 25 new retailers last year, four new ones (Bachrach, Vans, Lush and Bebe) will open by this summer and others are expected to be announced this year. One new addition is the high-end retailer Michael Kors which plans to open about 40 stores in North America this year. The Princeton MarketFair mall located a few miles away has also been adding stores and new restaurants.
Airport terminals now feature a variety of shops beyond fast-food restaurants in their food courts or kiosks selling souvenirs. A businessman can conveniently pick up a suit or tie he may have forgotten to pack for a meeting and a working parent can return home with a birthday gift she bought while waiting for her flight to board.
This is an exciting time for retailers and consumers alike as companies are reinventing themselves by forming partnerships, opening in unlikely locations and entering new markets to meet the needs of consumers wherever and whenever they have the urge to shop.
