FT agrees with Spotspot

12/05/2010

“Stores tackle physical and virtual realities” is the title of a recent FT article and at Spotspot we could not agree more. Steady growth of online sales and a rapid expansion of mobile Internet are both signs suggesting that retail is changing radically. On one hand consumers appreciate the liberty of shopping from different channels and being able to make informed decisions, while on the other hand, retailers need to catch up with this new reality rather than resist the inevitable.

“We are responding to how our customers have changed, how they want to shop, where and when. They use multiple channels to engage with us and we need to be in a position to respond.”, says Ivy Chin, head of Belk’s e-commerce operation. Belk is a traditional retailer with 300 stores in 16 Southern States. Two years ago they did not even operate an e-commerce website. Today they have a Facebook page with 40.000 fans.

The FT describes the changes in the retail sector as “the second stage of the online revolution that began a decade ago”. Having developed e-commerce businesses as independent units, it is now time for retailers to integrate them and create multichannel offerings. For that particular challenge, the ability to create engaging customer touch points that effectively combine “digital with physical” is going to separate winners from losers.