These days, we’re seeing popular online brands opening brick-and-mortar stores more than ever. While many view this as online brands attempting to break into the traditional revenue stream of shopping malls and boutiques, there’s an important strategy behind this move: Brick-and-mortar sales are driving online shopping traffic. Known as “click-and-mortar shopping,” brands are using both digital tools and physical shopping to give customers endless options when it comes to how they purchase products. 

For brands that originally only existed online, physical storefronts serve as a pipeline to increase their web traffic at a reasonable cost. Not only are their digital marketing expenses lessened, but the storefronts serve as showrooms for customers who want to try out products before they purchase them online. And with locations everywhere from shopping malls to some of the world’s most notorious shopping boulevards, the physical storefronts boost brand recognition extensively. 

Here’s a look at three unique brands that are successfully using their physical storefront to drive web traffic.

Skims: The Kardashian Quest for Retail Success

The $4 billion shapewear and clothing brand co-owned by Kim Kardashian is highlighting how brick-and-mortar sales are part of digital success. After opening its first brick-and-mortar store in Washington D.C. in 2024, the brand just made a splash on New York’s Fifth Avenue with a three-story location featuring a monochrome aesthetic and unique, towering art sculptures. With plans to expand to six standalone stores, they have no intention of stopping. But perhaps the most interesting facet of their expansion is that opening brick-and-mortar locations was a conscious decision with the goal of boosting the digital experience. 

As Inc. reported, “That in-person experience, co-founder Jens Grede expects, will create a flywheel effect back to the Skims website and mobile app, which accounts for more than 15 percent of sales. ‘The physical experience always peaks the digital,’ he says.” While Grede went on to say that they have had an “unbelievable run as a digital-first company,” adding brick and mortar creates “the full experience of the brand.” For people who don’t live on social media, the brand is dedicated to showing their staying power. Brick and mortar is what’s getting them there. 

Ernesta: Driving Digital Traffic From the Showroom

Peloton’s co-founders created Ernesta, a direct-to-consumer rug brand, that opened its first B&M store in New York this year, followed by another opening in the DC area in September. Knowing that certain interactions can only occur in person, they knew brick-and-mortar locations were essential to complement their online offerings and boost digital sales. 

At the brick-and-mortar Ernesta locations, professional designers have access to a lounge where they can review samples with their clients. The new showroom also offers an experience that helps consumers and designers better understand the products before purchase. 

One-on-one assistance taps into the need for close, personal connections with shoppers that aren’t possible with strictly direct-to-consumer shopping. Their strategy is echoed in a December study by GlobalData that shared how the era of selling exclusively online has leveled off in the U.S. Instead, DTC brands are embracing a flexible, hybrid distribution model “to capture and keep customers in a post-pandemic world.” Clearly, establishing a brick-and-mortar location is an essential component to a thriving digital presence.  

Revolve: Two Decades of Driving Fashion’s Digital Presence 

From flashy influencers to their mobile fashion game that provides real-world rewards, Revolve continues to be at the forefront of click-and-mortar shopping. Back in 2023, experts said that Revolve’s first pop-up shop could pave the way for their first brick-and-mortar retail location, and they were right. 

The Los Angeles fashion company, which has been around for 20 years, opened their first B&M location in Aspen this year. Now, they’re looking to expand into other cities, because “shoppers are increasingly choosing to visit brick-and-mortar stores where they can see clothes in person and try them on.” 

But that doesn’t mean shoppers are only purchasing in the store. As we noted in a previous post, 53% of shoppers are likely to look at a product in person, and then buy it online. Revolve understands this pathway, and their diverse digital presence, which is known for featuring famous faces shopping at their locations, is leading the way. Other brands are following, including online bedding retailer Boll & Branch, which opened their first brick-and-mortar store in Chicago in October, and nursery bedding and furniture brand Babyletto. 

We’ve seen the tremendous strides direct to consumer brands have made when they expanded to brick and mortar. Back in 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported how Warby Parker had 200 stores at the end of 2022, generating 60% of the eyewear company’s total sales. They want to open at least 900 stores in the U.S, because when a company opens a physical location, online sales in the area roughly triple. This maintains how brick and mortar shopping locations are absolutely essential. 

The power of in-person shopping experiences can’t be overstated. It provides a sense of instant gratification, boosts customer relationships, and helps brands engage with the local community. But as time goes on, we see that the brick-and-mortar locations are also an essential component of boosting digital sales. As the data demonstrates, the future of retail will be an omnichannel system that fuses both facets of the shopping experience together.