Digital companies often partner with or acquire brick-and-mortar retailers, prompting discussions around analog vs. digital presence. Here are 9 things you need to know about blending digital and physical.

In this episode we cover questions such as:

• Why is this happening?
• Is this a blip or an actual trend?
• What should a purely digital company be learning from this?
• Does this portend a renaissance of traditional retail?
• What does a technology practitioner need to know to navigate this?

Key Highlights:

• Amazon partnering with Sears for brick-and-mortar presence (00:00:55 – 00:01:03)
• Question of why Amazon needs physical presence when it’s successful digitally (00:01:03 – 00:01:13)
• Examples of other digital companies like Apple and Warby Parker opening physical locations (00:19:02 – 00:19:26)
• Discussion of whether physical presence is needed to be a “real” company (00:11:01 – 00:11:13)
• Speculation on Amazon’s motivations like experiments, acquiring new capabilities like grocery, pharmacy, etc. (00:06:45 – 00:09:05)
• Challenges of partnering for physical presence vs building it yourself (00:25:14 – 00:26:10)
• Importance of experience, letting customers see/touch products (00:12:42 – 00:13:16)
• Analogy of Amazon wanting to be a “real boy” like Pinocchio (00:10:56 – 00:11:05)
• Advice for digital vs physical companies on partnerships and focus (00:23:05 – 00:24:32)
• Issues with adoption and behavior change even with good apps/digital (00:29:09 – 00:30:09)
• Overall emphasis that physical won’t go away anytime soon (00:32:46 – 00:33:02)

9 Takeaways:

1.  Some companies are partnering with legacy retail for brick-and-mortar presence
2. This demonstrates that even successful digital players need what physical retailers have
3. Examples of other digital companies opening physical locations (Apple, Warby Parker)
4. Motivation includes things such as channel or segment experiments, acquiring new capabilities, or entering new markets
5. There are challenges with partnering for physical presence vs building yourself
6. The importance of experience – letting customers see/touch products – can’t be overstated
7. Advice for companies looking to go digital and for companies look to go analog includes partnerships, product focus, industry segmentation
8. There will be issues with adoption/behavior change even with good digital enterprises
9. This reinforces the idea that physical retail won’t go away anytime soon

Check out the Audio-only version of this episode!
Episode 03 – Audio Only