A lot of retail entities have been closing stores partly owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and partly owing to the lack of their digital presence. While e-commerce may not hold all the answers just yet, an omni-channel approach (a phygital store-front) is the best bet in this technological era. Many brands are opting for small-format stores in convenient locations to balance their online and offline presence.
The reduction in the size of the stores also takes away much of the overheads from the offline store. It evolves the structure and purpose of the business from stores merely being a place to pick things off the shelf to becoming pick-up spots for online orders and drop-off counters for damaged returns. The end goal is always about offering a seamless online and offline customer shopping experience. Now letβs look at some of the reasons why small-format stores are the future.
