Excerpt: Waiting in line is one of the major drawbacks of brick-and-mortar shopping—and one of the reasons ecommerce holds so much appeal for so many consumers. (A Pew Research Center study found that, as of 2016, 80 percent of Americans do at least some online shopping.)
Jeff Malmad, executive director and lead of media agency Mindshare’s Shop+, described standing in long lines as a “killer for retailer.”
“When it’s hot, it’s slow and the person right in front of you is either buying a lot of things or returning a lot of things, it makes you think, ‘Why didn’t I just buy this online?’” he explained. “That’s why the best marketing for a lot of brick-and-mortar retailers is making things easy and frictionless for consumers.”
This push for convenience in physical retail is also why stores have added click-and-collect options, he added.
