Why choose brick-and-click to increase your customer base? What are its advantages?

You are a business manager and want to expand your business to e-commerce or you are a freelancer and want to open a physical shop.

Do you want to learn more about brick and click?

Are you panicking and don't know how to set up and run a brick-and-click shop?

You can rest assured. Appvizer helps you, in this article you can find out more about this business model! 😉

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What is a brick-and-click shop?

It is a business model used by business managers to manage their online e-commerce and their physical shop. This name appeared in the early 2000s, 'brick and click' refers to the traditional shop business, while 'click' refers to the online business of companies. The purpose of this concept is not to oppose the two activities, but rather to highlight their complementarity and strength when combined.

Furthermore, this designation is used to differentiate businesses that sell exclusively online from those that are present both online and offline.In a nutshell, the brick-and-click model is the strategy used by those who operate an e-commerce and a physical shop for the same business.In recent years, e-commerce has been growing steadily and this has prompted many sellers to open up to e-commerce as well.

Many shopkeepers are unconvinced about opening an online business as there is high competition and they fear they will not succeed.If you are one of them, I can advise you to analyse the market in which you make your sales and the behaviour of your customers .

Some shops that were previously exclusively physical are taking the plunge by developing online. Other companies that were initially exclusively online (pure players) are deciding to open physical shops.

With digitisation, companies feel obliged to increase their turnover and reach a large number of customers by opening their own e-commerce.

The brick-and-click business model can be a way for physical shops to expand into online commerce, but also a way for e-commerce companies to gain a greater reputation by opening their own store.

What are the advantages of brick-and-click?

The combination of offline and online activities in the form of brick-and-click can offer numerous advantages to businesses including:

• Increased visibility: by opening an online shop and having a physical shop, you have a greater opportunity to make your company or shop known to more consumers. Furthermore, if on the one hand the online presence allows you to make yourself known regardless of geographic location, thus enabling even those who are far away to get to know your shop and make their purchases, on the other hand, physical shops can help facilitate brand memorisation, but also strengthen the brand image by offering a human experience to the customer in the shop.

• Openness to multichannel: by combining the use of a point of sale and an e-commerce site, you can increase sales possibilities. A consumer can visit the website, register his or her favourite products, subscribe to the newsletter to keep up to date with any news, or go to a physical shop to see the products directly and ask for more information from the sales staff.In addition, with the development of brick-and-click, companies are offering different choices to customers who order online to pick up their products: at home, in a corner shop, a click-and-collect, etc. The multiplicity of channels has a great advantage in that it allows the customer to buy in the most convenient way according to his or her own standards.

• Offer a differentiating customer experience:The brick and click is finally a golden opportunity to offer a differentiating customer experience.By combining the best of the physical and digital worlds, you can create a sensory and digital experience and thus offer an exceptional overall experience.

• Get to know your customers better: Another advantage of combining physical and digital channels is that you can greatly improve your customer knowledge.If you combine a CRM tool, companies can analyse customer behaviour both on the e-commerce site and in the shop.This way they can get more information on how long they have been customers, the products they have consulted, how often they have purchased, how satisfied they are with the products they have. In addition, a CRM tool facilitates inventory management and customer expectation management.

More and more companies are practising brick-and-click, i.e. offering both in-store and online experiences. The reasons are considerable: better visibility for the brand, higher chances of conversion and the possibility to offer an original experience adapted to new consumer needs.

How to start a brick-and-click business

In order to start a brick-and-click business, you need to know how to use Google Trends and Google Analytics.

Google Trends can allow you to visualise where a particular customer comes from in order to see in which geographical area more sales are made.

Google Analytics, on the other hand, allows you to visualise the entire customer journey on your site.

In addition, as far as the physical shop is concerned, you must have a robust card reader and also take into account customers using Google Play and Apple Pay.

Why do some consumers prefer physical shops?

Not all customers like online shopping, there are some who prefer to go to a physical shop to see the products directly and not wait for the order to arrive. That is why it makes sense to offer customers both choices.

A retailer needs to know what makes customers want to shop in a physical shop in order to satisfy consumer needsmore and more .Some people think that shopping online is risky, especially when the purchase is of an expensive item.

Store management

A good retailer has to know how to manage his customers' orders and has to be very precise in inventory management to avoid stock-outs. In the case of brick-and-mortar, it is also necessary to integrate online and offline inventory. By integrating the two types of commerce, you can offer customers the click and collect service , allowing customers to select a product and only go to the shop to collect it.The advantage of synchronising online and offline inventory is that you can manage your business globally in one place. There are many platforms that offer software so that you can manage your business easily.

How the click-to-brick strategy developed in retail

Click-to-brick is a strategy in which the link between online and offline commerce is exploited to try to increase the number of customers coming to physical shops, using online advertising campaigns.

How to measure results for click-to-brick campaigns

To launch a click-to-brick campaign, you can use several channels including Google Ads and Facebook, which can be considered the best platforms for this purpose.If you want to use this strategy, you need to have several shops.The challenge these types of campaigns face is to get as much information as possible about the users.

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What is an effective click-to-brick strategy

Implementing an effective click-to-brick strategy requires:

• Choose a geographical segmentation, choose the location of the shop and their distance, take into consideration the competition and the products offered.
• Accompany users in their choice: through advertising campaigns, catalogues showing the products present and their price.
• Update the opening and closing times of each shop and indicate their location.