DEATH OF PUREPLAY RETAIL

INTELLIGENCE REPORT DEATH OF PUREPLAY RETAIL CUSTOMER ACQUISITION

Stores Can Drive Organic Traffic Pureplays face limited organic visibility for category keywords, unsustainable bidding wars for paid terms versus retail goliaths, and a crowded email landscape that rewards promotionality. In this challenging environment, organizations have been forced to look to alternative marketing options to acquire new, brand-loyal customers. One strategy for growing organic site traffic has proven to be opening offline stores. Even e-tailers that previously vowed never to establish a brick-and-mortar presence—including Bonobos 10 —have done just that, opening popup shops, flagship stores, and entire retail networks. These evolved retailers recognize the benefits of new, profitable points of distribution, but also increased consumer awareness and subsequent site traffic. In October 2013, Rent the Runway opened its first popup shop inside Henri Bendel’s, and saw a slight spike in traffic from organic search the following month. The impact was even more pronounced a year later, when the company opened its first permanent showroom in New York City. Warby Parker, Trunk Club and Proper Cloth have all seen equally impressive growth in organic search traffic following their first store openings.

Death of Pureplay Retail: Changes to Organic Search Traffic as Evolved Pureplay Retailers Open Stores ■ Date of First Popup ■ Date of First Store Opening

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750K Monthly Organic Search Traffic Monthly Organic Search Traffic 500K 250K 0 Jan. 2010 Jan. 2011

0 Monthly Organic Search Traffic Monthly Organic Search Traffic Jan. 2010 Jan. 2011 750K 500K 250K

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Jan. 2015

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0

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Jan. 2012

Jan. 2013

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Jan. 2015

Jan. 2010

Jan. 2011

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Source: SEMrush 2015.

10. “ For Bonobos, a Good Fit in Stores as Well as Online ,” New York Times, July 2, 2014.

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January 12, 2016