DIGITAL RETAILERS MOVE TO BRICK AND MORTAR
While ecommerce is accused of disrupting the retail industry, companies that have thrived online are now expanding into storefronts emptied by their former competitors.
Experts say brands that got their start online are poised to become the future of brickandmortar retail as companies look to increase sales. Digital natives like menswear brands Bonobos and Indochino have already opened their doors in Greenwich, while Amazon plans on opening a new store in Norwalk’s SoNo Collection mall.
“What you’re seeing is a lot of the players of old … that were traditional brickandmortar retailers that were slow to adapt to online retail are either going or gone already,” said Brandon Singer, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield.
There were reportedly 600 physical stores opened in recent years by digital brands, with hundreds more expected to follow, which has Connecticut brokers hoping to fill vacancies in commercial corridors and shopping malls in the state.
“I’m hoping they will come and, if they come, I hope we have inventory for them because it does create jobs,” said Bruce Wettenstein, of
Westportbased Vidal/Wettenstein.
Strained market
The strain caused on traditional retailers from the continued shift of the industry and consumer trends has been most apparent among department stores and national chains, with many filing for bankruptcy and shuttering hundreds of locations.
Yeartodate closure announcements have already exceeded the total recorded for 2018, according to New Yorkbased Coresight Research. The research and advisory firm reported that U.S. retailers announced more than 8,000 store closures thus far, surpassing the 5,844 closures the year prior.
For businesses to succeed — or just survive — the changing industry, retailers these days have to provide their customers with both an online and offline experience, said Jose Mendoza, who has a doctorate in business administration and teaches a number of marketing courses at the Jack Welch College of Business and Technology at Sacred Heart University.
“These sorts of transformations are for big players only,” he said, pointing at companies like Amazon, and Walmart, among others, that influenced consumer trends in recent years.
For smaller and traditional retailers, however, making that that transition will be more difficult, according to Howard Aspinwall, owner of Stratfordbased vacationstyle gift shop Mellow Monkey.
While his business got its start as an onlineonly retailer, Aspinwall added a physical storefront in 2017 which he has continued to expand.
“It takes a lot of effort to do both ends of the business because both are like a fulltime job,” he said. “It’s becoming harder and harder to compete online because it depends on the products you’re trying to sell.”
Customer buying habits continue to strain small businesses that use online marketplaces like Amazon’s to sell their products, Aspinwall said. Small businesses looking to compete, or survive, have been pushed to offer free shipping, which Aspinwall said can hurt an owner’s bottom line.
“I think the issue small retailers face is when a supplier is approached by Amazon to carry their products — it becomes very hard to compete because the pricing they will get will be much more favorable than what small retailers can get,” he said in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media.
Playing to their strengths
As department stores and
national brands continue struggling in the changing landscape, Connecticutbased retailers say they are going to double down on their local appeal with residents.
“I don’t really worry about the big box stores or the national chains because I have a really loyal customer base who really appreciate shopping small and shopping local,” said Amy DiSabella, owner of Sophie Claire’s in Milford.
She has been running her boutique for seven years, selling a mix of clothing and home décor. In that time DiSabella said she has developed her brand’s reputation by offering a unique product along with customer experience.
Portia Antonio, of Trumbullbased Pure Poetry, echoed a similar sentiment, adding that being part of her community has helped keep her business going amid changes in the industry.
“We know people are coming in here not just to run an errand,” she said. “They are coming in for the whole overall experience, so I feel like if we keep doing what we are doing as well as we are, I don’t think there is a reason for me to worry.”