(You can add it anywhere to the Op-Ed, would fit best at the end) Although brick-and-mortar shopping seems here to stay, it has definitely been threatened by the online shopping model. As Wallace points out, more than half of American consumers prefer to shop online, and almost all (96%) of Americans who have any Internet access have made an online purchase. Most Americans (80%) have ordered something online in the past month (Wallace 1). The number of Americans who prefer to shop online is even greater for young people, with 67% of Millennials preferring online shopping to going to a store. The reasons for preferring online shopping include convenience and time savings, although Millennials do spend about six hours per week shopping online (Wallace 1). Online shopping with major retailer like Amazon also makes it easy for people to buy everything they need in one place, all without leaving the comfort of their home or office. In fact, the rise of online shopping as the go-to model for Millennials, Gen-Xers, and even older Americans has meant the demise of many small retail stores, as Amazon.com and other major online vendors has driven them out of business. Online sales are also growing for almost all retailers that started out first as brick-and-mortar stores, such as major department stores (Gilreath 1). The result of online shopping has been a tremendous transformation in consumer behavior.

Interestingly, though, a reverse trend seems to...

While the big retailers like Amazon have been instrumental in phasing out “main street” type establishments, that trend was already taking place with the likes of Wal-Mart. Perhaps more tellingly, Amazon has recently done the reverse by opening its first brick-and-mortar store (Gusoff 1). Amazon opening an actual brick-and-mortar store is probably the biggest sign that brick-and-mortar is here to stay. Consumers want personalized service in some shopping situations, even if they will combine their brick-and-mortar or in-person shopping with shopping online. The reasons why consumers will still use, or in some cases even prefer, shopping in a brick-and-mortar store is they want to touch, feel, or try on a product (Gusoff 1). Most retailers like Amazon are also learning that they need both a brick-and-mortar presence as well as an online one to truly remain competitive in the long run.
As Gilreath points out, nearly 85% of all retail sales still take place in stores (1). The major retailers from TJ Maxx to Target are synchronizing but also segregating their online and in-person shopping experiences so that consumers have incentives to use both. For example, a person might find that the pants they want are only available in the brick-and-mortar stores, or that they will receive a 25% discount for buying the same product online.…