PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Despite having a low percentage of physical store sales, tech stores have the highest ‘true value’ boost out of all the UK retail sectors.
A study carried out by analyst Verdict Retail has found that the ‘true value’ of UK tech stores saw a boost of 32 per cent, the highest across the entirety of retail in the country. By contrast, UK retail on average only has a five per cent boost.
The ‘true value’ of a store is defined by Verdict as including "both click & collect sales and online sales from store operators where consumers first browsed in store".
Physical sales in 2015 amounted to £11 billion (49 per cent of total sales); the ‘true value’ of UK tech stores is £14 billion (64 per cent of total sales). For the sake of comparison, entertainment saw a ‘true value’ boost of just eight per cent, health and beauty is only boosted by three per cent.
What is clear from these statistics is that showrooming and click and collect are definitely the future for brick and mortar tech stores, and the shops themselves have acknowledged as much, according to Verdict.
"The prevalence of showrooming is resulting in a number of retailers repurposing their physical stores, using them to display products and promote online sales rather than just to fulfil immediate sales," Verdict said in a statement.
"Click and collect is strong in electricals, especially at John Lewis and Currys, as shoppers can favour this channel over home delivery, either to avoid delivery costs or because of security concerns over high value purchases being delivered to home.
"With a market share of 33 per cent, pure-plays do not dominate online electricals, as many shoppers want to look at higher value items in store before committing to purchase. This is in spite of the influence of Amazon and specialists like AO.com, which has successfully showcased products online with video demonstrations.
"We expect online penetration to grow as innovation continues and more stores migrate to a showcase model rather than focusing on immediate fulfilment in store, which will serve to increase the boost."
