Ressa: “If Lumen has success in doing this, they will set the stage to be successful for other merchants who might have a more everyday customer and desire a brick-and-mortar presence.”

TARRYTOWN, NY—Typically making splashy openings in trophy markets and locations, online retailers opening up physical stores—known as “clicks-to-bricks” retailers—are now choosing traditional retail locations spots to set up shop and reach consumers, DLC's SVP leasing Chris Ressa tells GlobeSt.com. Ressa gave us a clicks-to-bricks case study of Lumen Optical (from the folks at 1-800 CONTACTS), which openeda new store at DLC's Randhurst Village in Mt. Prospect, IL—a decidedly atypical location for an online retailer to make a physical debut. We spoke exclusively with Ressa about why a retailer like Lumen would choose this type of brick-and-mortar space, whether this is becoming a trend and the advantages and disadvantages of starting online before occupying retail space.

GlobeSt.com: Why would a company like 1-800 CONTACTS, which has been so successful online, open a store like Lumen Optical in such a low-profile space?

Ressa: For the past few years , it's been common for online retailers to move into brick-and-mortar space. But typically, it has only been done in -high profile locations. If you take retailers like Bonobos and Warby Parker and even Amazon, who've done a couple of brick-and-mortar stores, they've gone into pretty high-profile destinations, and the reason they're doing it is that they're connecting further with customers. With the importance of omnichannel retailing, companies do that to build engagement. There's such a competitive marketplace, so many products and so much information people can access that they couldn't before that you need to be proactively engaged with your customer via social media, blogs and TV advertising. And some retailers also believe you need to do that in brick-and-mortar stores. They're generating that experience with their customer physically that they couldn't online. Do I expect to see a landslide where all online retailers are start going to brick-and-mortar? No. But, to stay ahead of the curve, you have to have as many touchpoints as possible.

I was recently at Garden State Plaza in Northern New Jersey, and they had a Facebook kiosk—Facebook was actually renting physical space, showcasing their VR items. That's one of the best malls in the country, and my gut tells me they're going to high-profile places like Garden State Plaza to reach a lot of customers. It's snowballing, but other online retailers are going to do that more. They need to have a worldwide presence, and as a retailer, you can either have saturation strategy of opening up a bunch of stores in specific geographic areas or you can choose a high-profile location. But that doesn't necessarily work for every type of retailer.

In the case of Lumen Optical, being in this industry, we have not seen many online retailers move from clicks to bricks in by going into daily needs shopping centers. I don't know if this is going to be a trend that continues, but if Lumen has success in doing this, they will set the stage for other merchants who might have a more everyday customer and desire a brick-and-mortar presence. Most online retailers tend to choose the best malls in the country, but they don't go to your regular, everyday grocery anchor shopping center, or even the strong power centers. Online merchants who consider this will have huge benefits for the life cycle of their business.

GlobeSt.com: What are the advantages to starting off online before occupying retail space?

Ressa: I think one of the biggest advantages that online retailers have is they know exactly where every single one of their customers lives. Brick-and-mortar retailers have good information, but online merchants are 100% accurate about where their customers are because they have to ship to their houses. So, when deciding where you want to open stores, a good place to start is where the majority of your customers are, and that's a significant advantage online retailers have.

GlobeSt.com: What are the disadvantages?

Ressa: Operating a brick-and-mortar store is different from operating an online store. You need to understand inventory management and the community you're in, and you need to have experienced salespeople interfacing with customers. It's all learnable stuff, but the experience gap is large compared to brick-and-mortar retailers who have been doing this all along.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this process?

Ressa: Are we going to see a continued trend of clicks to bricks? I think the answer is a resounding yes, and we will see that trend moving into product lines of real other than just trophy, high-profile locations. Lumen is in one of the first innovators that has done it. Are there going to be others who do that? There are probably certain retailers who could—companies like Wayfair, which competes with the brick-and-mortar furniture stores. We own everyday real estate, which has been very resilient through the recession, but has not been the beneficiary of new concepts from clicks to bricks.

GlobeSt.com: Why would a company like 1-800 CONTACTS, which has been so successful online, open a store like Lumen Optical in such a low-profile space?

GlobeSt.com: What are the advantages to starting off online before occupying retail space?

GlobeSt.com: What are the disadvantages?

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this process?

Instant Insights /

Are “Clicks-to-Bricks” Retailers Moving to Your Neighborhood?

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