Consumers look to spend in brick-and-mortar When discussing the state of retail, it is important to investigate retail spending trends. Recent research by eMarketer takes a look at how and where consumers in the United States are going to be spending money over the next 6 or 7 years. eMarketer’s research reveals that disposable income spent by consumers in the U.S. for brick-and-mortar retail stores will be $5 trillion by 2020 (Figure 1).
This chart points out two important factors; online retailing is going to grow and more than double, but the relative level of money spending in stores is still many multiples of what is spent online, even when projected out to 2020. The fact that consumers will be spending $5 trillion in brick-and-mortar by 2020 means that
retailers have to be prepared to accommodate shoppers and their changing needs.
According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Commerce2, in 2014, e-commerce accounted for only 8.3% of total retail sales. In other words, despite the rapid growth rate of the e-commerce market, the lion’s share of retail sales is still done within traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
TimeTrade recently conducted its own survey of 1,029 consumers regarding their perceptions and habits around retail shopping. Results indicate that more than 87% of respondents plan to shop in stores at least as often as they did in 2014.
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