New research revealing a symbiotic relationship between a brand’s physical stores and its ecommerce platform has been published

by British Land.

Using data from Connexity Hitwise, the research, 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. Digital traffic from the local area then remains around this level, 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, showing that a physical store can make a critical contribution to the online success of expanding brands.

“One year on from the True Value of Stores report, the findings are more relevant than ever,” said head of retail business development for British Land Ben Dimson. “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 omni-channel shopping.” 

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.

“The research shows that physical stores are an engine of online growth,” said head of retail, leisure & residential for British Land Charles Maudsley. “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.”