A report released by the BRC this week has shown that retail footfall is 1.8% higher than the same period in 2011. Regional high streets may be in crisis, and most retailers are reviewing store numbers and even layouts, but this is about an adjustment rather than extinction.
Click and Collect has already made the link in the minds of consumers, and mobile will drive it further.
What we are seeing today is only the beginning. Soon it will be hard to even define e-commerce, let alone measure it. Is it an e-commerce sale if the customer goes to a store, finds that the product is out of stock, and uses an in-store terminal to have another location ship it to their home?
The announcement by struggling store-based retailers that they will develop their online businesses is one answer to the problem but not the only one, and in fact, simply pumping money into ecommerce may not solve the problem at all.
