If you have been following the e-commerce industry for a while then you must know that there is a co-relation between opening and closing of physical stores as well as boosting of online sales. But if you did not read the report that we are going to produce in front of you carried out by ICSC then you will not believe your eyes. Everyone must be under the assumption that when a retail store in any location closes then the online sales of that location must be driving upwards. Well, let us tell you that the data suggests exactly the opposite of that. Yes, it is revealed that when a retail store closes then the online sales of that retailer in that location also go down.
ICSC President and CEO Tom McGee, said in a statement, that “ICSC’s data has always shown that consumers prefer shopping in-store over other channels,”. “While our earlier research on the halo effect demonstrated how physical stores drive web traffic and brand awareness, our latest report dives deeper by analyzing actual spending data. The findings quantify just how important brick-and-mortar is to today’s omnichannel consumers.”It found that across nearly all categories, online sales increased following the opening of a store and decreased when a store closed. Among apparel brands, a store opening typically drives an 11.6% increase in online sales, and a store closing drives a 19.4% decrease in online sales.
The study, which reviewed nearly $850 billion in credit card transactions over a four-year period, explored the impact of physical stores on emerging retailers, as well as established retailers, in categories including apparel, big box specialty, cosmetics, department stores, discount department stores, and home stores.
Conversely, said the ICSC, when closing a location, home stores, and department stores took the biggest hit to their online sales, declining by 32.2% and 26.1% respectively. The study also examined the impact of opening or closing a store on average basket size, revealing that opening a physical store causes a shopper’s average online basket to increase, and confirming the opposite effect. Despite being known for being tech savvy and growing up with digital technology at their fingertips, the data found that Gen Z consumers shop in-store more than Millennials and Gen X and at a similar rate to Boomers.