text: Stores Are Dead, Long Live Stores | Atomic Energy
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  Posted on March 25, 2014 by Avi Deitcher	Are physical (a.k.a. brick-and-mortar) stores dead? Or are they the future?
  On the other hand, name brand stores that were always online have gone heavily physical retail. Apple's retail stores are famous, and represent 12% of its direct total sales for FY2013, although the brand and physical proximity value in driving other sales are in excess of that number. Microsoft has opened Microsoft stores, and there are reports of Best Buy and other stores having some success fighting "showrooming", where people browse in the store and then buy from Amazon or other online sellers.
  In the last 6 months, more than 30% of Americans have not even entered a bank branch. I suspect the numbers are even lower in Europe, where those medieval forms of inter-party funds transfer – the paper check (or cheque, for the Canadians and British among us) and cash – are almost never used.
  And yet, as the numbers above show, retail sales – even without e-commerce – still grew last year.
  So… are physical stores dead, or are they the future?
  Chores: For chores, efficiency is king, and stores are dead. The primary reason one went into a bank branch was to take care of a chore, a terrible waste of one's precious time. If you need cash, you'd rather go to the ATM; transfer money to someone, use PayPal or Bitcoin; check balances or pay bills, do it online. Bank branches will become fewer and more specialized to the few tasks one simply cannot perform otherwise.
  Rational Purchases: For rational purchases – toilet paper, door handles, light bulbs – those items with which you have no emotional attachment and you know precisely what you need, purchases will shift further and further away from brick-and-morter. The only exceptions will be items you cannot buy online, those for which shipping costs are prohibitive relative to the cost of the item, or those you need today. I have no need to go into a store to buy a 10-pack of lightbulbs; I would far prefer to have them show up at my door.
  Emotional Purchases: For emotional purchases – those items that have an emotional impact – purchases will continue to be a mix of online and physical.
  The item invokes purchase concern emotions due to the complexity of the purchase. These are usually big-ticket items like washing machines, laptops for personal use, or smartphones. These emotional concerns are alleviated by seeing and physically touching the item, or a similar or floor model, prior to purchase, combined with a salesperson's assistance and reassurance.
  The item invokes purchase concern emotions due to the necessity of post-purchase use. Even if the item itself is not expensive or complex, but the purchaser cannot truly afford to get it wrong, emotional concern about living with the wrong item come to play. A set of knives may not be expensive, but if someone has a big party at her house, she needs to know that she is getting just the right set for the party. These concerns, again, are alleviated by seeing and touching the item, combined with a salesperson's assistance and reassurance.
  Stores that focus on fulfilling primarily the emotional purchases will staff correctly, display correctly, market correctly, price correctly… and thrive. Those that continue to focus on attempting to sell rational and chores will wither on the vine.
  Avi Deitcher is a technology business consultant who lives to dramatically improve fast-moving and fast-growing companies. He writes regularly on this blog, and can be reached via Facebook, Twitter and avi@atomicinc.com.	View all posts by Avi Deitcher →	This entry was posted in business. Bookmark the permalink.	← The Difference Between Experience and Cynicism