European ecommerce store gets physical
Pixmania, a European retailer, is bucking the trend. While most physical retailers are downsizing to focus on ecommerce, Pixmania is growing its presence by opening 20 brick-and-mortar stores in major European cities. Paris, Marseille and Barcelona are some of the big locations Pixmania is expanding to, Internet Retailer reports.
The France-based retailer says its network of websites attracts upward of 30 million unique visitors a month, with annual sales topping $1.1 billion annually. By opening brick-and-mortar stores, the brand hopes to target the 80 percent of European shoppers who are still interested in buying Pixmania products (which range from electronics to furniture) at physical locations.
"Today the web accounts for 5 percent of total European furniture sales, 10 percent of television sales and 20 percent of camera sales," Jean-Emile Rosenblum, co-founder and vice president of the company, explained. To capture more sales, the company needed a physical presence.
"To satisfy consumers' purchasing habits, you have to look further than internet and seriously think about opening stores," he added.
Whether merchants are expanding to the web or brick-and-mortar, it's crucial to look at their audience. Retailers should always do what makes the most sense and enables them to provide a better experience to their customers. For Pixmania, he notes that a lot of their products have strong cross-channel opportunities, which drove the company to consider a physical expansion.
For example, a lot of customers conduct research on the web when buying big-ticket items – such as furniture. Rosenblum estimates between 20 percent and 80 percent of customers take to the web to research products. However, before they commit to making a large purchase, many will want to go in-store and actually look at and touch the product. By offering both online and in-store experiences, Pixmania keeps the shopper engaged with their brand the whole way through.
"In our 1,076-square-foot store in Barcelona customers can see a thousand of our products," Rosenblum says. "Online, they have access to 1.4 million products, and can also order a product that was not available in store and have it delivered either at home or at the store."
According to separate data from Ecommerce Europe, approximately half of EU country members shop online. However, the number varies wildly from upward of 70 percent in some regions to less than 10 percent in others. This highlights the need for both brick-and-mortar and ecommerce operations for retailers in Europe.
