Click-and-mortar is defined as an integrated business model with both online and offline operations (1). Generally, click-and-mortar businesses have a physical storefront and an online presence, often through a website or a mobile application. Behind the success of click-and-mortar businesses is the development and implementation of the omnichannel strategy – which is a multichannel approach to give a customer seamless experience when it comes to making a purchase from any location or device (2). The click-and-mortar business model is becoming increasingly popular across the globe during the digital age, as it introduces convenience and accessibility to the modern customer journey. In this blog, we will be going over 3 reasons why modern businesses should explore the click-and-mortar models, to create positive impacts for customer experience and on the financial health of the business.
- With click-and-mortar, everyone can get served
One of the biggest barriers to online ordering is the fact that your customers can’t touch and try on what they want to buy until their orders are dropped off in the mail. It will take them a few additional days (or sometimes, weeks) to resume their shopping experience, and might take them a few tries to get the right colour or the right size. However, there are also busy customers who often don’t feel like visiting a mall, and would rather get the items directly from the online store and skip the long wait in line to get access to the fitting room. With click-and-mortar, businesses can now serve both types of customers, to let them shop freely the way they want. With items available in both physical and online stores, now not only can you serve your local loyal customers, but can also introduce your brand to customers who live thousands of miles away from where you are, or serve customers who live abroad. The online component of click-and-mortar gives you more market access (3), while in-store shopping continues to supply the experiential component of a traditional shopping experience. This is a crucial point in winning customer satisfaction: You must start by leaving no customer behind.
- Click-and-mortar creates a seamless shopping experience
In the digital world where information can easily be accessed from any phone or computer, many customers now enjoy doing their research before hitting the store. A customer who is shopping for a new dress would check out the product offerings from specific brands, selecting a few styles that attracted their eyes, and eventually get a chance to try them on in-store. Customers can also perform faster searches by using sorting and filtering functions when checking out online stores, to save themselves time before arriving at the store. The click-and-mortar model also makes returns and refunds easier: A customer who got a pair of chinos which were too big can now have their order immediately returned and refunded at the store counter, and skip the part where they have to re-mail the order in, wait for a few days for it to be inspected and for the refund to be reissued. With this in mind, click-and-mortar has given customers more resources when it comes to making a purchase, while saving time and making the most out of every store visit.
- Click-and-mortar improves your business financials and operations
Running a click-and-mortar business will help owners and operators to save big on storefront rental, wages and salaries to employees, and inventory holding costs. Compared to the cost of opening and running multiple retail locations, implementing an e-commerce solution is cheaper, and easier to maintain, adding in more capacity to serve your customers. Having an online presence, apart from the physical storefront, will enable businesses to serve multiple customers at the same time, allowing immediate checkout and task automation to increase the efficiency of business operations. On the other hand, a physical storefront can act as a testing ground for new business ideas, to help businesses to gain more insights into the ever-changing customer profiles and better address their needs. The online and physical stores complement each other, to make your business more efficient when it comes to serving customers, and providing positive impacts to both top and bottom line growth.
Interested in starting an e-commerce website to support your physical storefront? Look no further! With Etoile Web Design’s innovative, affordable and reliable WordPress plugins, you can now start adding more features to your WooCommerce page to create a well-rounded e-commerce experience and improve your business operations! Interested in learning more about us and our product offerings? We invite you to visit our website for more information, and look forward to supporting you and your business to champion the click-and-mortar journey!
