Although online shopping has been the norm for decades, oftentimes consumers still want to visit a physical store. Whether it’s trying on different sizes, comparing colors and styles, or simply browsing, there are some shopping activities that people prefer to do in person. When the pandemic upended supply chains, retailers responded by cutting back on the amount of inventory that went out to individual stores. Instead, they centralized inventory at distribution centers to make it easier and cheaper to respond to online orders. But now in-person shoppers are running into a new problem: traveling to stores only to be told the item they want can only be ordered online. 

Department stores used to be the most reliable place to pick up just about any product available. Today, they only carry about 7 percent of their overall stock, with the rest stored in centralized fulfillment centers. “Retailers have pivoted too hard to e-commerce and neglected the in-store experience, and that has got to swing back,” said Don Hendricks, chief executive of the department store chain Belk. In 2022, Belk closed its online fulfillment center and sent all of its inventory to its nearly 300 stores so that shoppers would be more likely to find what they’re looking for in person. 

For stores that still depend on fulfillment centers, recent studies show that their lack of stock is having a negative impact on shopper experience. Nearly 75 percent of consumers say they prefer shopping in physical stores, but only 9 percent say they are satisfied with the store experience. One of the top complaints about in-person shopping is the lack of product variety available in stores. Some shoppers say they have to travel to multiple physical stores to find what they want, especially when the alternative is paying a shipping fee to return something that doesn’t fit. As one college student in Pennsylvania put it: “If I wanted to order it online, I would have done that from home.”

Questions: 

1. Why did many retailers start stocking products at centralized fulfillment centers rather than at their stores? 
2. Do you think more companies should follow Belk’s lead and start stocking more products at stores? Why or why not?

Source: Suzanne Kapner, “How the Internet Made In-Store Shopping Miserable,” The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2025.