eCommerce and the future Bricks and Mortar (concept)

The future of bricks and mortar, I do not believe is all doom and gloom, the future is going to be different, like we started to discuss yesterday maybe retail stores will act as LIVE ecommerce website, image walking through a store choosing products, trying products blenders, portable pizza ovens, trying on different clothing, shoes, hats, scarves, etc. Defining the order on a tablet swipe your credit card -the order is placed from the stores website, and 2 days later your shopping sphere is on your door step.

Consider buying a new car typically the dealer keeps a demo of each model around for a test drive, the car you ending buying is like the DEMO but it is in the back lot or traded with another dealer for your vehicle. Also have you ever been to IKEA - you walk through the showroom you write down numbers than either you go downstairs and pick the products yourself or walk up to that desk and hand your receipt in. So in the 2 examples, the retailers need to carry less inventory on hand, the customer was able to touch and feel the products, the orders is placed through the company website and delivery is set up.

In the case of the auto dealer they can have the customer use an APP on an iPad choose the option package the sales person - using the backside of the APP can pull all local inventory for the best fit the customers preferences. In the case of IKEA - this would be a huge benefit of Home Delivery, besides putting all the furniture together it’s up to you to stuff a living room set into the back of your Toyota Corolla.

The need to touch, feel, test products will never go away, this why I believe that Bricks and Mortar are going to become an extension of every retailers website and ecommerce services.