Shopping across the digital divide

Just a few years ago many feared that the growth of e-commerce would mean the end of in-store retail operations. But as the biggest pure online players, such as Amazon and Zalando, now expand into the real world and open their first physical stores, it is clear that the death of bricks-and-mortar has been much exaggerated. Instead, physical stores have evolved into a vital piece of an advanced consumer-centred retail environment, profoundly impacting both retail tenants and landlords. While their ordering and fulfilment operations might be comprehensively sorted out, online merchants still have serious problems with finding virtual alternatives for real-life showrooms, fitting rooms, or face-to-face customer services. Neither digital store fronts (tested by EBay), nor pop-store stores (used by Zalando), nor specialised vending machines (launched by Amazon to sell e-book readers and tablets) have resolved this issue. Pain of transition “There are ce