The divide between the digital and real worlds as it applies to retail is continuing to blur. While many bricks and mortar retailers have increased their online presence in recent years, the flow in the other direction has become a much greater influential force for the world of retail.

In 2017, Amazon created a stir when it purchased retailer Whole Foods for $14 billion. Bricks and mortarfocused Walmart had bought online retailer Jet.com in 2016 for a comparatively paltry $3 billion. The battle for the consumer retail dollar is heating up, and firms have to do whatever it takes to stand out in the crowd.

Well.ca is a Canadian online retailer that is attempting to merge the bricks and mortar and digital worlds. The company is known for having Canadas largest assortment of green and natural brands, with over 40,000 products to choose from on its site. However, it was in the real world where Well.ca first made a splash.

In 2012, Well.ca set up a virtual store in Torontos Union Station. The tangible part of the store was a wall-sized adhesive that portrayed images of products and pricing along with a QR code. Transit riders could approach the wall with the images of products they were interested in, scan the QR code, access Well.cas app, and make a purchase that would be shipped to them. The virtual store remained for the entire month of April 2012 and was supported by Procter & Gamble, which featured over 120 of its products (e.g., Pampers, Crest). In an interview in Marketing Magazine at the time, the VP of Marketing for Well.ca stated: We wanted to create this space and let Canadians see that there are lots of different ways to shop, whether its online or in the store or a virtual store.

And it is precisely this different way to shop that is changing how consumers make low involvement everyday purchases. Consumers are used to making purchases in a certain way, and for most people, this still involves interacting with the product in person. Consumer packaged goods like what is being offered by Well.ca are bought online but represent only 1.9% of all grocery sales in Canada.

For retailers, the big concern is the number of times consumers visitwhether to a store or a digital site. Visits to grocery stores have declined 7% from 2012 to 2016, according to Nielsens presentation at the 2017 Retail Council of Canada meetings. It was also mentioned at the meeting that We are seeing a decline on overall traffic but even though you have fewer opportunities to engage in the store, with digital, you have more opportunities (as a retailer) to engage and interact with the consumer. It is projected that sales of goods online will increase by 20% for the next few years.

So, instead of having only digital or only bricks and mortar space, Well.ca wants to create a presence in both worlds. Along with its well-stocked website, Well.ca has two physical stores: a baby products store in Guelph, Ontario, where the companys headquarters are located, and a store in Toronto that has some products but mostly serves as a pick-up location for purchases made online. Well.ca has noticed more people taking the option to pick up their online purchases in-store. Clearly, there is an inclination for consumers to enjoy the best of both the online and real worlds when it comes to making purchases.

With the focus on health and beauty products, Well.ca serves a female market aged between 25 and 45, with an emphasis on families given the nature of the product lines on offer. It is evident with its success that other consumer markets would be accessible if the company were able to provide the right experience for those consumers.

And it is precisely that experience upon which Well.ca is focusing. The company sees itself as helping to solve consumer problems, such as what is the best sunscreen to use or what vitamins and supplements will work best. The company prides itself on providing this support to consumers and attempts to try to offer a personal experience despite its more digital presence. The CEO of Well.ca recently noted in a television interview: We dont focus too much on mass advertising, but rather delivering on that customer experience every time.

As Well.ca continues to grow, it seeks out new opportunities for both products and customer experiences. The consumer products industry is in a constant state of change: your focus needs to be on how you can help this Canadian retailer stake its claim before the well goes dry

1. Define the Problem

2. List Relevant Evidence and Facts from the Case

3. what marketing concepts can be applied to this situation? begin your analysis using these concepts

4. Make a recommendation on how to solve the problem and create an action plan

5. How will the success of this recommendation be measured?