investing in brick to get more clicks

Dutch online consumer electronics and gadget store Coolblue is expanding on the physical side. Why? Even for a people experienced with web-shopping, nothing beats physical touch-points.

When Coolblue’s entrepreneurs were still young and budding, they got phone calls from customers who wanted to come and pick up their gadget from the attic-based office. So now they’ve built several places for potential customers to grab hold and get an actual feel for what they’re looking to buy.

And what gives? The number of online orders from the area codes surrounding the stores is growing. So instead of cannibalizing on more cost-efficient online business, the offline store-fronts lend it a helping hand.

Source: NRC Handelsblad, 11th january 2008, p. 15

(photo coolblue by allyBrown on Flickr)