Department Stores Under Threat From the Internet

Interesting piece from the retail bulletin this morning underlining that department stores are under threat from the internet and not as an e-commerce tool but as a research tool.

It would seem that consumers don’t look for inspiration from department stores, but prefer to research and identify the product/s they want to purchase before they’ve left the house or the office.

To strengthen this argument Michele Norsa, the chief executive of fashion business at Salvatore Ferragamo, believes that brands with their own stores will suffer less in the current economic climate than those that only sell through concessions.

This post and the entry on the ‘new-info-shopper’ raise an interesting point, that if the consumer is researching more heavily online, before making a purchase is the brands first opportunity to make an impression their website? And if this is then fulfilled in store should brands focus more on making these two touch points more integrated and less on their online presence offering just DR?