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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Some online retailers seeing value in bricks-and-mortar shops

The Columbian
Published:

Some of the hippest online retailers around are pioneering an old concept: offline retailing.

After years of squeezing traditional retailers, e-commerce companies that were once digital-only are seeing the value of hanging up shingles.

Los Angeles e-commerce darling Nasty Gal recently announced plans to debut a shop. Beauty purveyor Birchbox opened its first store this month in New York. And JustFab gave up being just online in September when it opened a flagship.

Instead of bricks-and-mortar, these shops might more aptly be called click-and-mortar.

“It’s all about having the online retail world figure out, ‘Maybe we can showcase our products better in store,’ ” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD Group.

Of the thousands of merchandisers dedicated to working on the Web, only a relatively small group has opened a physical space, analysts say. But in going back to the industry’s shopkeeping roots, these merchants are acknowledging that no matter how easy or efficient a website is, some people still like to browse the old-fashioned way.

Makeup company Birchbox wanted to bring something extra to its first permanent store in the trendy SoHo shopping area of New York. In addition to thousands of beauty items, the cosmetics company offers hair stylists, nail technicians and makeup artists who teach classes.

When JustFab Inc. opened its flagship store, the company wanted to present its products in a clean space that mimicked its sleek website.

Shoes and handbags were displayed in well-lit cubby holes built into the white walls, like pieces of art. The rest of the shop was kept relatively bare with a few display tables, spokeswoman Kimberly Tobman said.

But shoppers, who are used to a more bountiful display of items, ended up treating the products as “untouchable,” she said. JustFab quickly doubled the number of tables and brought more shoes for customers to pick up and try on.

“We tried so hard to make it like our online store,” Tobman said. “We thought, ‘Can we merge’ ” tech and fashion? The answer: “Not so much,” she said.

Stephanie Torres, 24, ended up buying a pair of plum-colored pumps for $39.95 after checking out the JustFab store for the first time.

“Now that I know my size, I’m going to start ordering online,” Torres, a downtown Los Angeles housekeeper, said. “Without the store, I probably never would have bought anything ever.”

Exposure to customers in person is especially important for digital brands without the name recognition of an Amazon.com to create buzz in the early years, said Brian Sozzi, chief executive of Belus Capital Advisors.

“As an upstart brand you need to have a storefront and you need to connect to people walking on the ground,” he said.

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