Stores with Doors

There’s just no substitute for shopping and doing it in person.

We should not be writing any obituaries for bricks and mortar or stores with a door. Consumers still like visiting their favorite retailer or shopping in person despite the push toward on-line ordering that was accelerated by COVID and public health orders resulting in store closures in many parts of the country.

The latest figures on retail activity or consumer spending in the country offer up a most interesting take on the e-commerce side of purchases. From June to July of this year, sales generated on e-commerce platforms actually fell. They went from six-percent of all spending to 4.6%. That is a significant drop and coincides with many of the re-opening schedules across the country.

As soon as stores were free to welcome customers without limitations, consumers responded and headed to the mall or their favorite shop.

There’s no doubt, though, that e-commerce or on-line sales are going to play a bigger role in overall consumer spending patterns but these figures suggest that any notions of the old fashioned bricks and mortar shop becoming a museum display are overblown.