Dive Summary:

• Many popular online merchants are beginning to eye expansion into brick-and-mortar retail in order to better accommodate their customers, despite online retail revenues has experienced staggering growth.
• During the quarter of 2013, online revenues increased 13% over the same period in 2012. Total revenues for online transactions climbed to $50.2 billion.
• The trend seems surprising for some industry commentators which have predicted an inevitable demise for brick-and-mortar retail. “It’s about taking the risk out of buying,” said Steven Dennis, a retail consultant and a former top executive with Neiman Marcus and Sears.

From the article:

But today’s retailer will gladly record a sale any way they can get it, said Jeff Green, a Phoenix-based retail consultant. “It is strange to see e-commerce sites open physical stores,” Green said. “But when you think about, it’s not surprising. The most successful retailers are going to have a combination of bricks-and-mortars and digital sales. For online retailers, you might as well get to the sale as close as you can.”