- British Land: New research reveals symbiotic relationship between a brand’s physical store and its ecommerce platform
New research revealing a symbiotic relationship between a brand’s physical stores and its ecommerce platform has been published today by British Land.
London, 2017-Aug-07 — /EPR Retail News/ — The research, using data from Connexity Hitwise, shows that when a new store opens, traffic to the retailer’s website from the surrounding postal area increases by 52% on average within six weeks of opening. Importantly, digital traffic from the local area then remains around this level (figure 1), demonstrating that a physical store has a significant, positive and sustained impact on digital interaction with the brand.
Brands with fewer than 30 stores enjoyed the greatest positive impact from store openings, with uplifts in local traffic to their websites of 84% on average (figure 2), showing that a physical store can make a critical contribution to the online success of expanding brands.
These findings take British Land’s True Value of Stores research one step further and starts to quantify the ‘halo effect’. More work is already underway, in partnership with Revo, to measure the distinct contribution of each channel and ensure leasing models and valuation methods reflect the benefit of the store to retail businesses as a whole.
Ben Dimson, Head of Retail Business Development for British Land, said: “One year on from the True Value of Stores report, the findings are more relevant than ever. Blending channels is increasingly common, pure-plays are still moving to physical and click & collect, an increasingly important link between physical and online, is continuing to take ground. Click & collect usage is on average 46% greater than the national average at our Local centres proving they are particularly well positioned for omnichannel shopping.”
Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail, Leisure & Residential for British Land, said: “The research shows that physical stores are an engine of online growth. Consumers choose brands that align to their lifestyle and values: a physical store enables a retailer to demonstrate its brand in action and drive interest online. At the same time, stores enable retailers to respond to evolving shopping habits, market their brand effectively, and deliver products more efficiently. At British Land, we provide the perfect platform for retailers to do this through our continued investment in Regional and Local centres across the UK.”
Notes to Editors
About the True Value of Stores Research
The True Value of Stores research quantified for the first time the value of click & collect sales and online sales browsed in store. The key findings were that 89% of all UK retail sales touch a store and non-food physical sales are boosted by 9% when adding click & collect sales and online sales browsed in store. The research also identified a ‘halo effect’ which improves brand awareness, customer service and trust, therefore contributing to online sales that do not directly touch the store. Further details can be found at www.britishland.com/truevalueofstores.
About British Land
Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial property is focused on Retail around the UK and London Offices. We own or manage a portfolio valued at £19.1 billion (British Land share: £13.9 billion) as at 31 March 2017 making us one of Europe’s largest listed real estate investment companies.
Our strategy is to provide places which meet the needs of our customers and respond to changing lifestyles – Places People Prefer. We do this by creating great environments both inside and outside our buildings and use our scale and placemaking skills to enhance and enliven them. This expands their appeal to a broader range of occupiers, creating enduring demand and driving sustainable, long term performance.
Our Retail portfolio is focused on Regional and Local multi-let centres, and accounts for 48% of our portfolio. Our Offices portfolio comprises three office-led campuses in central London as well as high quality standalone buildings and accounts for 49% of our portfolio. Increasingly our focus is on providing a mix of uses and this is most evident at Canada Water, our 46 acre redevelopment opportunity where we have plans to create a new neighbourhood for London.
Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. Our places, which are designed to meet high sustainability standards, become part of local communities, provide opportunities for skills development and employment and promote wellbeing. Our industry-leading sustainability performance led to British Land being named a European Sector Leader in the 2016 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark for the third year running.
In April 2016 British Land received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development, the UK’s highest accolade for business success for economic, social and environmental achievements over a period of five years.
Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com.
Enquiries:
Investor Relations:
Cressida Curtis
British Land
020 7467 2938
Media:
Pip Wood
British Land
020 7467 2838
Jackie Janssen
British Land
020 7467 3449
Emma Hammond
FTI Consulting
020 3727 1227
Gordon Simpson
Finsbury Group
020 7251 3801
Source: British Land
###