*This blog post is a response to an outside blog: http://www.retaildoc.com/blog

From growing and shifting trends towards online shopping and the termination of the physical retail stores, many companies have shifted its focus on its e-commerce. Best Buy, an electronics retailer, is still betting on its bricks-and-mortar stores, despite the pressure of reduction in costs if it switched to e-commerce business. The company closed 15 big-box stores earlier this year, has launched some smaller outlets of 5,000 square feet. In addition, it has expanded its online site and focused on its e-commerce, providing a “reserve and pickup” service. 

Bob Phibbs, author of the Retail Doctor’s blog, has come up with five trends that brick-and-mortar retailers should be aware of. Most of these trends are related to the expansion of e-commerce and include:

1. Mobile access will continue to be the topic of most retail news articles

2. ‘Webrooming’ will offset showrooming – customers will continue to browse online more and more at home rather than going to their local store.

3. Online training of employees will expand

4. Big Data will struggle to be relevant

5. Privacy gets fashionable again – customers will tend to ask about what their information is used for.

E-commerce can reduce many costs and it is important for companies to take these trends into account when making decisions as to whether or not they should continue to bet on their stores.