One of the most fundamental advantages even the most basic ecommerce site has over a physical store is measurement.

While many of the world’s best physical stores continue to measure sales per square foot, footfall and not much else, that basic ecommerce site offers bounce rates and dwell times for each and every product you sell.

In this respect, the game might feel rigged if you’re a store-heavy retailer or a store-reliant brand competing with new, online-only incumbents.

But, as always, change is on its way. And surprisingly, it isn’t happening at the fringes; it’s happening within a business that could be a poster boy for traditional store-led retail. 

The invisible becomes visible

Curry’s is an electronics retailer in the UK with more than 300 physical stores. That, in itself, is fairly remarkable.

Electronics retail is a sector that Amazon tends to eat for breakfast. And what Amazon doesn’t eat, Apple stores might finish off. Take Maplin as an example – a once beloved high street fixture that disappeared in 2018.

But Curry’s has always been quietly innovative. They use stores both to support and complement other channels, and are often early adopters of new strategies and technologies.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that Curry’s, in partnership with SharkNinja and The Valley Group, have been an early adopter of something that’s really grabbed my interest.

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