Here’s why the phenomenon will only grow in the future.
The Latest Example: ThredUp’s New Stores
ThredUp has been an e-commerce company since 2009, and it just added an offline store in San Marcos, Texas. Four more locations across the nation are planning to debut before the year is up. The clothing seller, which operates in second-hand goods, sees now as the time to dip into offline locations.
Another Great Offline Branding Opportunity: Event Planning
Online companies have far more data, and far more ways to target audiences with that data. In order to take advantage of that strength while adding offline marketing, some lifestyle brands are developing their own events. Billy Penn, a Philadelphia-based local news site, earned 84 percent of its 2015 revenue from running events like a Pope-themed beer tasting in honor of Pope Francis’ visit to the city. Online brands with a strong enough understanding of what events will bring out their audience can develop a hit event.
The Future Is Offline and Online
The boundaries between the online and offline marketing world are only blurring more and more: With AR and VR on the way, we keep developing new tech to incorporate the benefits of the internet into the real world. And the internet’s shift to siloed verticals helps too: Marketers are already shifting to an ever-widening number of verticals that demand personalized approaches, from new platforms to different demographic groups on forums or subreddits. As a result, marketers may find that their marketing approaches won’t need much tweaking to apply to the offline world. It’s just another engaged third-party audience — albeit one that tends to stand out a little bit more, and stick around longer. You can’t swipe left on a physical grocery store.
