Successful stores run both websites and outlets to maximize profits

Australian companies are quickly learning that the best way to increase sales is to combine a brick-and-mortar outlet with an online shopping platform.

Both forms of retail offer enormous benefits. For instance, brick-and-mortar stores can convert as many as one out of every five visitors into a customer, while even the most successful websites convert only 2 to 5 percent - the Apple store reports a rate of 1 percent and U.S. retailer Best Buy converts only 2.2 percent of its monthly 25 million visitors, according to the Australian. Additionally, a retail outlet can help customers feel safer when they shop online because they are familiar with the brand's existence outside of cyberspace.

However, online shopping carts have many advantages, as well. For example, the price of running a website is only a fraction of how much it costs to rent and operate a major brick-and-mortar location, especially in a popular area with a lot of traffic. Recent research also indicates that busy consumers are doing more and more of their shopping via the internet, putting companies without an online outlet at a severe disadvantage.

Digital Camera Warehouse director Lucinda Dalton told the paper that she decided to operate both and on- and off-line to maximize her profits.

"We can get data about where our customers are from the website," she told the Australian. "The stores haven't taken any sales away from our website. We were concerned that the physical stores would take away growth from the website, but they have contributed to it."