Offline Helps Online

They’re called 'Shoppable Billboards'.

DTC retailers say that physical stores are driving online sales. Online sales in cities where they have stores are much higher than sales in other cities where they don’t. Examples include Nest Bedding (a 15% average increase in online sales in the nine cities that host its 10 stores over cities without stores), Italian leather shoe company M. Gemi (a 20% lift in online sales), and fashion accessories store Cuyuna (about a 50% uptick in digital sales in the cities where it has four stores and pop-up shops).

For online retailers, physical locations become another way to promote the product and give people a chance to touch and feel the product. It’s also a way to diversify their distribution channels.

Further, Ben Fischman, co-founder and CEO of M.Gemi, said those customers have a 50% higher lifetime value than digital-only customers