Not all that long ago, there was considerable talk of bricks-and-mortar retailing eventually being disrupted by online sales. Yet, while online sales continued to increase, various benefits of having physical stores continued to emerge. And, more recently we are seeing bricks-and-mortar retail holding its own.

According to the November 26, 2024 Wall Street Journal article “Stores Adapt to an Online World” by Kate King, bricks-and-mortar retailing is making a comeback. According to the article, “Americans bought $300 billion in retail goods online last quarter with ecommerce accounting for 16.2%...according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That proportion is nearly back to peak levels in 2020 when many stores were closed…Still, after years of worrying that ecommerce would decimate bricks-and-mortar stores, retail landlords now say the sector is stronger and more insulated from online competitors.”

The article covers various reasons why physical retailing remains strong. It points out that TJMaxx does well using its treasure hunt approach, which I have blogged about previously. It also says that the parent company of TJMaxx, “TJX, has added 342 net-new stores since 2019” and this is an indication that bricks-and-mortar retailing still does well. I’ll add that that the success of TJX’s TJMaxx has been achieved using a strategy of doing things differently than most other major retailers.

The Wall Street Journal article also mentions that retailers are using their bricks-and-mortar locations as the source from which to ship online orders. The article reminds us that the brand awareness generated by a physical location encourages consumers to buy from that retailer, a topic I have written about before. And, the article also points out that some customers do like to see the merchandise before actually ordering it, and having bricks-and-mortar locations makes this possible. As I see it, all of these reasons why bricks-and-mortar lives on fit what I have written about before regarding why some older technologies can defy disruption. Older technologies live on if there is still some benefit from doing things the old way.

As the Wall Street Journal article illustrates, there are still many benefits to physical retail stores, despite the convenience of online shopping that is now available via modern technology. As I see it, physical retail stores still offer many benefits currently not always matched by ecommerce. That’s why bricks-and-mortar retailing was able to make a post pandemic comeback and can continue to do reasonably well as long as its benefits remain. Older technologies generally survive only if they still offer benefits.