More Impulse Buys In Stores, Not Online

After a seven-year process of legal wrangling and negotiations, online retail giant Amazon will soon have its own brand-specific TLD (top level domain.) While it’s a victory for the company’s global branding and could increase traffic and sales, it doesn’t spell the end of in-store sales.

E-commerce is a significant factor in any brand marketing, however, the data doesn’t lie. Most retail sales happen in brick and mortar stores. Moreover, a recent study showed that 54% of shoppers spent more than $50 when shopping online, but 71% of those who shopped in a physical retail store, spent more than $50. Impulse purchases were more common in stores as well, with 78% of men and 89% of women adding extra items to their brick and mortar purchases, while only 67% of men and 77% of women reported adding a little something extra to their online cart.

The sales floor is where it’s at when it comes to customer acquisition. In-store is where customers can be immersed in a brand in ways that simply don’t happen online. ThirdChannel is an industry leader in repping brands in the retail landscape, educating store associates and providing relevant data to key players from store managers to marketing teams.

In a study of a national health and wellness brand, ThirdChannel showed that in-store happenings, including product demos and promotional events, were associated with a 58% increase in sales on the day of the event, and four weeks later sales were still hopping, with a 34% jump in revenue. A top level domain might make a big splash from a PR perspective, but brand loyalty and awareness happen in real life, with in-store interaction between customers and associates.