An opinion piece on E-Commerce and how consumers still see the benefit of brick and mortar stores.

1. It’s not all about e-commerce
In retail, the focus today is very much on e-commerce and there is much being said
about how this is taking over traditional retailing. Lower costs, a wider selection of
suppliers and options with the convenience of access anytime or anywhere makes
buying online an attractive proposition.
Like with many trends, the tide seldom moves in one direction. Take mobile phones
for example. At a certain point the market realized that phones needed to be big
enough to be used comfortably and had to be practical and so phones (and not just
smart phones) started getting bigger until they were right-sized.
Something similar seems to be happening in retail. In the US, brick and mortar
retailers account for roughly half of online sales and related activity. Disruption of
traditional commerce models continues to accelerate at an unprecedented pace and
retailers are being forced to re-evaluate how they go to market, balancing front-end
footprints with back-end fulfillment capabilities and their overall digital presence. At
the same time, the uberisation of freight and FaaS (Freight as a Solution) offerings
and warehouse sites that combine prescriptive analytics capability are resulting in
flexible networks and infrastructure capabilities. These developments are elevating
supply chains and logistics strategies into must-have, strategic differentiators.
In the experience economy, meeting consumer demand requires a seamless
partnership between front-end retail experiences and back-end fulfillment
capabilities. Additionally, retailers cannot rely on just one, go to market channel.
More and more companies are realizing that an Omni channel approach is needed
for long term commercial sustainability. This does not mean that shopping malls are
going to have people flocking back to them. What it does mean is that channels and
resources to markets will need to be relevant and differentiated as opposed to
ubiquitous.
Investing in e-commerce and digital marketing, often with insufficient focus and
prioritization alone is not what consumers want and the simple fact of the matter is
that the majority of retail purchases, in virtually all categories starts online and till
today, digitally influenced physical store sales are far bigger than pure online sales.
The future of omnichannel will not be evenly distributed across all channels and
challenges will still remain for brick and mortar malls and stores. Retailers need to
have a well-sequenced roadmap of digital and conventional marketing combined
with channel integration initiatives rooted in a deep understanding of customer
behavior and underlying economics. The scattergun approach many have taken in
implementing an e-commerce strategy has not proven to be successful. A laser
focus, targeted at specific groups or areas will be what results in success through the
coupling of rich data sets and consumer insight. This is good news to me. I am a little

2. old school and still like the personal interaction brick and mortar stores afford the
consumer. Being able to touch and feel what exactly I am intending to buy is another
plus point and I am sure I am not alone. E-Commerce is not the be all and end all
and the winning formula will be one that is balanced and measured.
Dr. Raymon Krishnan, serves as President of the Logistics & Supply Chain Management Society and
Editor-At-Large of LogiSYM. For more opinion pieces, news and articles relevant to the Supply Chain,
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