Can Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Take on Amazon?

Amazon.com has been in the news recently with its acquisition of Whole Foods Market and record-setting Prime Day. However, traditional brick-and-mortar brands still feel they have a competitive advantage against the (predominantly) online retailer — the in-store shopping experience.

Consider that 45 percent of retailers surveyed for Total Retail's most recent research report "The Amazon Effect: How Retailers Are Adapting Their Business to Better Compete With the Industry Leader," said they believe that their physical stores offer them a competitive advantage vs. Amazon. Just 17 percent of respondents said they didn't believe their stores offered an advantage vs. Amazon.

It will be interesting to see in future years if retailers still attribute that same value to their brick-and-mortar stores, particularly as Amazon invests further into that channel (most notably in grocery with the acquisition of Whole Foods). Perhaps indicative of the challenging environment for brick-and-mortar retail is that 38 percent of the retailers surveyed don't have a brick-and-mortar location. With all of the conversation around experiential and omnichannel retail, and the value in having not only an e-commerce presence but a storefront to serve customers in the channel of their choice, it will be interesting to see if more smaller brands test brick-and-mortar.

We’ll continue our coverage of the The Amazon Effect report on Thursday with a look at whether retailers’ online customer experiences have been influenced by the leader in the space, Amazon. In the meantime, make sure to download the full report!