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Posted By on 01/21/2018 in Category 1

Online shopping hasn't killed brick-and-mortar retailers

Online shopping hasn't killed brick-and-mortar retailers

Online shopping hasn't killed brick-and-mortar retailers

Reports of the death of bricks-and-mortar retailers, as Mark Twain famously said, are greatly exaggerated.

Some people are doubling down on this pronouncement after some big chains, including Macy's, said they were hiring fewer seasonal workers. But those who read closer will see that other retailers are doing just the opposite. Target, for example, plans to increase total holiday hiring by 43 percent -- its first increase in five years.

Target is emblematic of the reality that gets lost in the eagerness of the mass media to declare the death of shopping malls: Though some retailers are withering, many retail chains are actually quite healthy.

The notion that bricks-and-mortar stores are moribund is fed by these three myths:

All major retailers are suffering. Online sales are growing for all retailers, but nearly 85 percent of retail sales still take place in stores. And major retailers, including Nordstrom, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Burlington Stores, T.J. Maxx and Target, are undertaking significant expansions this year.

Traditional and online retailing are separate entities. Actually, the two work in tandem. Nordstrom is opening smaller stores with limited inventory to support its growing online operation. (You’ve probably been told in a clothing store that you can get the color you want online.) Shoppers can now go into Target to buy Casper mattresses, formerly sold only online. According to marketing expert Allan Haims, shoppers have come to view online and in-store retailing through “a single lens.”