Austin, TX, Feb. 10, 2021 – As consumers remain closer to home due to the coronavirus pandemic, retailers are closing stores, switching online or planning to move their city-based bricks-and-mortar outlets into local high streets in the near future.
More than half of U.S. retailers (56%) say they will be closing physical stores in 2021, according to new data from ecommerce operations provider Brightpearl.
The main closures will affect sports and leisure brands (55%) with half planning to close stores, while 37% of fashion brands say they expect to close stores this year. A third (33%) of home and DIY firms will also be pulling the shutters down on their stores this year, according to the research.
One of the main shifts in spending habits since COVID-19 has been the switch to more local shopping and a move away from malls, with 75% of consumers saying they will shop more locally over the next year.
Brightpearl’s research also predicts a 66% drop in city centre retail footfall over the next year.
In light of these trends, retailers told Brightpearl that they will have to drastically adapt their own models to adjust to the new normal.
Almost one-in-five retailers (18%) plan to move stores out of major city centres and into local high streets within the next 12 months.
In a bright spot, 58% of retailers expect ecommerce to fare much better than the rest of their business over the next 12 months.
The survey reveals that 4 in 10 retailers are now planning to switch their retail focus primarily online next year to take advantage of the huge shift to online shopping since the onset of Covid.
More than half of consumers (53%) of consumers are now buying things online more than normal, according to the study, and nearly 8 in 10 shoppers (78%) are expected to increase online purchasing over the next 12 months.
The survey from Brightpearl, which provides digital operations solutions, polled 1,000 retail brands and 2,000 consumers from across the country to identify how retail is transforming since the start of the crisis.
Brightpearl’s data also reveals some concerning insights for physical only retailers.
More than half of shoppers (55%) are now buying things online that they only previously bought in-store and 38% of buyers are less likely to shop in-store than they were before COVID-19.
Amazon is set to be an even bigger winner over the next twelve months with 56% of consumers saying they will use it more in 2021 but 30% of shoppers say they do feel ‘guilty’ about abandoning physical stores for the ease of Amazon.
The survey revealed that 41% of shoppers also plan to increase their use Of Buy Online Pickup In Store services over the next 12 months.
“Our study shows some big shifts as our work-at-home patterns intensify,” said Brightpearl CEO Derek O’Carroll. “Customers have relocated online of course – but they’ve also relocated to the suburbs and the rural towns and that’s reflected in our emerging shopping habits. Retailers need to respond to these changes and our data suggests many are already making plans to shift online and move stores to local shopping streets with increasingly strong footfall.
“Over the next year, retailers are also going to have to up their digital game to meet growing online demand, and the expectations shaped by our new buying patterns. Some savvy companies are already looking into adding local collection points to their online delivery offering to capitalise on customers’ increased preference for local shopping. It’s a fulfillment strategy that makes a lot of sense, but requires slick operations to pull off successfully. To that end, it’s clear it’ll be those brands that are prepared to adapt to this once in a generation retail transformation that will see the most success long term.”
Brightpearl has distilled the data into a new report on the habits, categories and spending of shoppers over the next twelve months which can be found here.
Bristol UK-based Brightpearl works with retailers introducing software that puts orders, inventory, financials, POS (point of sale) and CRM (customer relationship management) in one place.
About Brightpearl
Brightpearl is the number one digital operations platform (DOP) for the retail and wholesale sector. Built to manage the complexity of modern business, the scalable platform offers insights for fast decision-making, the flexibility to respond to rapid changes in demand and smooth integrations with other core operational systems within the organisation.
Brightpearl’s complete DOP solution includes financial management, inventory and sales order management, purchasing and supplier management, CRM, fulfillment, warehouse and logistics. Brightpearl’s configurable automation workflows also have measurable time and cost saving impact for our customers, allowing them to focus more resources on growing the business. In addition, the solution has high-performing connectors to the major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce.
1,000 retail businesses from across the world use our platform and we manage over 10m transactions and $3bn of business a year. Our team guides retail businesses through a highly efficient implementation process which typically gets them up and running in less than 60 days – twice as fast as our competitors.
Brightpearl’s US headquarters is in the heart of downtown Austin with a global headquarters in Bristol, UK. You can connect with us on Twitter (@BrightpearlHQ), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/Brightpearl), and Facebook (facebook.com/brightpearl).
Media contact:
Mark Hook
Nick Ward