Simply put, a click and mortar business is an integrated model that combines both online and off-line operations. Retailers have a website here that customers can shop on but these same folks still have the option of buying products in a brick-and-mortar store. The strategy involved is often called omnichannel.
One of the big bonuses is the fact that there’s an enhanced shopping experience with more flexibility, service and convenience.
The retail shop might be beleaguered in this era of convenient online shopping and free returns, but it’s not dead yet. Far from it: just look at the storefronts operated by formerly online-only brands such as Bonobos, Warby Parker, and Rent the Runway.
But e-commerce has definitively changed the way people shop–and according to one Silicon Valley engineer, retailers are failing to adapt.
Most bricks-and-mortar shops are never going to be able to beat the Amazons of the world at supply chain efficiencies, says Vibhu Norby, formerly a lead engineer at the smart thermostat company Nest. So, he concludes, “the future of retail has to do with discovery and customer relations.”
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