Brick and mortar locations are always going to play a role in consumer buying (and as I've argued in the past a much more significant role than most journalists would lead one to believe.)
This said, the balance of power continues to shift away from the retailers themselves and toward consumers and brands. This shift began many years ago but is being accelerated by mobile device technology.
Consumers are bringing their own product assessment devices in-store. They're asking people THEY trust for product opinions and advice.
The retailer used to dominate this space (as they should considering the fact that they own the physical space) but they are failing in their inability to entice shoppers to pay attention to their in-store message rather than the message a specific brand may wish to share.
A brick and mortar presence is of immense value unless this space becomes marginalized by technology. This does not have to be the case. A 24"-60" screen will always dominate the experience of a 2-5" screen in your pocket. Retailers are going to be forced to make substantial hardware investments in the in-store experience if they want to have an opportunity to reengage their shoppers.
The question retailers continually ask themselves is "Am I going to see a sales lift if I invest in this new in-store infrastructure?" I would contend this is question is missing the point. An in-store network may not be a matter of "increasing sales enough to pay for it" but a matter of "will we even survive if we don't take this step"?
These questions bring considerably different risk assessment views to the conversation.
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