The Spillover Effect 

With different retail channels at hand, it is more important than ever to be aware of how stationary retail and e-commerce intersect and how they can work together for an improved shopping experience. 

Since online shopping has become a primary method of shopping for many people nowadays, there is understandable concern that brick-and-mortar stores are suffering from the digital competition. However, with a well thought out multi-channel retail strategy, merchants can profit from spillover effects between their different channels. 

What is meant by the spillover effect? This phenomenon describes a process in the field of marketing and advertising, when one condition positively influences another. In the way of retail, an online-to-offline (o2o) spillover effect would mean that the positive experience from the digital platform can influence sales in brick-and-mortar stores as well. And vice versa, of course. 

For instance, a customer might see an online ad which prompts them to visit the store, or see an item they like in the physical store but end up deciding to make the purchase in the respective online store.

In the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic in particular was a driving factor in creating spillover effects between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores, as it not only encouraged new ways of shopping, but actually made it necessary to think about retail in a more omnichannel way.