When it comes to the future of retail, many people would be inclined to think that the days of the high streets are over, and that online shopping is the way forward. It is true that the number of people who are heading online to do their shopping is on the rise, but this doesn’t mean that physical shops are disappearing, as the infographic below shows.
The info collected by people at Redbrain clearly shows that by comparing the offline and online sales of some of the biggest retailers in America, offline sales are still up by a considerable amount.
If we take a look at the retail giant Target, we can see that it went online back in 1999. Despite this, its brick and mortar stores are still bringing in a lot more revenue than the online store.
As of April 2018, its online traffic was 125.95 million people and online revenue was $3.953 billion. Although this may sound like a lot, if you compare it to the $67.93 billion that was made in-store, the numbers couldn’t be more different!
The same could be said about Walmart, which went online in 2000. Although its online revenue is $15.316 billion, its 11,716 stores worldwide have helped to bring in $461.9 billion of in-store revenue.
For many people, these results may seem pretty surprising, especially since there is currently such a hype around ecommerce and online shopping.
There could be a number of reasons that people still evidently prefer shopping in physical stores.
For example, many people prefer to touch and see the item they want to purchase, and then take it away with them the same day. Additionally, shopping could be considered a very social experience, with people shopping with friends or family and making an outing of it.
Online shopping, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of this and is a very independent activity.
The bottom line is, people just prefer the personal experience that a physical store can give, which is where online stores are failing.
To find out more facts and figures from some of the world’s leading brands, take a look at the infographic below.
