Bricks-and-mortar stores still entice shoppers: survey

Shoppers still value the option to visit a bricks-and-mortar store to touch and feel a ­product.

About 43 per cent of customers prefer to try products before they buy.

Australian retailers retreating from shopping centres and ­suburban retail strips to shrink their bricks-and-mortar footprint might be jumping the gun because shoppers still value the option to visit a store to touch and feel a ­product.

While online platforms are vital for a retailer to survive in the disruptive state of the $300 billion national retail sector, they should still be investing in their bricks-and-mortar stores to drive sales.

According to a study by ­Australian Consumer, Retail, and Services Research Unit, and commissioned by marketing company Salmat, about 43 per cent of customers prefer to try products before they buy, with 11 per cent not interested in a ­virtual experiences.

The study has forecast that in five years shoppers will split their shopping between in-store (48 per cent) and online (45 per cent), and 59 per cent of consumers want an equal balance of ­interaction between technology and humans, while 26 per cent will prefer interacting with a real person.

The survey holds out hope for bricks-and-mortar stores, as well as their landlords, with the dark clouds of online and the looming arrival of Amazon in Australia driving many retailers to close stores.

Department store Myer has been closing stores in its portfolio as it seeks to cut its floor space by 20 per cent, while this week retail billionaire Solomon Lew revealed his Portmans and Just Jeans flagship stores in ­Melbourne’s Bourke Street mall will close after 30 years of ­occupancy in the retail strip.

Both Myer and Mr Lew’s Premier Investments, as well as other chains, have poured ­hundreds of millions of dollars into better e-commerce platforms to fuel growth. “Over the past decade, online retailing and social media have led many ­commentators to suggest that physical retail would eventually decline or die,’’ said Sean Sands, managing director at ACRS.

“However, this is by no means the case. Humans are essentially descendants of hunters and gathers, and we still desire the ‘hunt of the kill’ which translates today to touching, feeling, and experiences of physical space.

“Online is an important ­component of the retail mix, and for the next five years at least, ­in-store will continue to be the ­central hub for consumer ­interactions and shopping ­experiences.”

Salmat head of marketing, Ben Hillman, said shoppers ­remain engaged with stores ­despite the popularity of online shopping.

“The opportunity is for bricks-and-mortar stores to do what we have seen internationally, if you look at companies like Best Buy in the US what they are doing is actually improving their logistics, they are working on customer experience and they are developing technology to keep people in the store and then actually make the purchase then and there.’’

Mr Hillman said shoppers were also looking for “frictionless transaction’’ when they are in the stores that encompasses services like same-day delivery if they buy in-store.