Much has been written about the death of the retail location in the past several years, given the rise of ecommerce. But, like many prognostications, reports of the death of bricks and mortar have been greatly exaggerated.

In a recent blog post, I reviewed how ecommerce and bricks and mortar are not really foes.

In fact, an omnichannel approach, which combines web, mobile and physical store location to reach customers better and to align the merchandise with the local shopper, is likely the way to future success for many retailers in this changing economy.

So, it was gratifying to read in a recent interview in Chain Store Age with recently appointed ICSC President and CEO Tom McGee that “it’s not about brick versus clicks anymore. It is about convergence, and retailers are just beginning to touch the possibilities in that regard.”

According to the article, over the Thanksgiving weekend “retailers with a physical presence saw 34% of their online sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday picked up in store. More importantly, those who picked up online orders in store made additional purchases while there.”

And the belief that Millennials aren’t going to stores anymore is simply untrue, according to McGee. In fact, they visit them more often than any other demographic group. The difference is now they go to stores with a purpose, having done their research ahead of time – so they spend less time in stores.

These findings by the ICSC are further evidence that retailers who understand the impact of ecommerce on their physical store sales, and vice versa, will deliver the greatest omnichannel sales. We see this in our customers – who are still committed to opening new locations for their brands, and better understanding the complementary nature of the two channels.

We’ve helped many retailers understand the relationship between their ecommerce and bricks and mortar sales – download Tango’s Predictive Analytics datasheet to learn more.