Beyond Amazon – Why physical retail still matters for brands in 2026

Amazon has transformed ecommerce. It has made it possible for brands to launch quickly, scale fast and reach customers globally. Direct to consumer channels offer speed, control and detailed data. It is easy to understand why many businesses start online.

But in 2026, channel strategy is no longer a growth choice. It is a high-stakes decision. Get it right and you build profitable momentum. Get it wrong and you can spend quarters unwinding damage that is hard to rev23221erse.

Customer acquisition costs have risen. Competition has increased. Profitability is harder to achieve. And when you bet on the wrong channel or partner, the downside is real: delistings, margin collapse, compliance remediation, reputational damage, and exclusivity lock-ins that limit your options later.

The brands that grow successfully are no longer choosing between online and retail. They are building an omnichannel strategy for one simple reason:

You need to put your products where your customers actually shop.

Retail never disappeared

There has been a strong narrative that physical retail has been replaced by ecommerce. The reality is very different.

Around three quarters of retail sales still happen in stores. In some categories, such as nutraceutical drinks and kombucha, the figure is closer to 98 per cent. Customers want to see, feel and choose products when they are in a store. They do not want to buy a £2 drink online and have it delivered.

I see many brands make the same mistake. They create a product that people want to buy, then they put it in a place those people do not want to buy it. They focus on DTC and online only in categories where retail is dominant. Sales are slow, marketing costs rise and momentum is lost.

If your customers are in store, you need to be in store.

Online and physical are now connected

One of the most important shifts across markets is the integration between online discovery and physical purchase.

Retailers in Europe often tell me they like brands to have a presence on Amazon because it supports store sales. Customers search, read reviews, build a shortlist, then walk into a shop to buy. Amazon becomes a search engine.

In China this behaviour is even more advanced. Customers move between channels seamlessly. They may see something on live shopping, look at reviews, explore social content and then choose whether to buy in store or online. It is one ecosystem, not two.

The UK and US are not fully at that stage yet, but the direction of travel is clear. Customers expect to find products both online and in store. It is our job to meet them wherever they choose to shop.

Alternative channels are growing fast

There is a belief that channels such as TikTok Shop and live shopping are only relevant to younger audiences. We do not think that is true.

Younger customers may adopt these channels first, but older segments are growing. And there are channels that are often overlooked which serve older demographics extremely well. QVC in the United States reaches around 14 million consumers every day. The average age is over 60 and they are buying for themselves, their partners and their wider family.

Some brands have built significant businesses through TikTok before expanding into retail. Others are using live shopping to demonstrate and sell products in real time. These formats were proven at scale in China and are now gaining traction in Western markets.

The key point is that there is no single dominant channel. You need to understand where your customers spend their time and then meet them there.

Retail can be more cost effective than online

Many brands assume retail is expensive. They worry about listing fees, margins and logistics. That can be true if you are unknown. But once a brand has some traction, retail can be more efficient than pushing deeper into online channels.

Customer acquisition costs online have risen significantly. Competing for attention is harder and more expensive. Retailers already have footfall. When your product is on the shelf in front of customers, you are reducing your marketing cost at the moment of purchase.

Retail becomes the conversion point. Online becomes the discovery and validation point. This is why both matter.

Omnichannel is the strategy

The most successful brands do not decide between Amazon, DTC or retail. They build a combined omnichannel strategy. They use digital channels for awareness, then convert through the places people prefer to shop.

Category, price point and behaviour determine the right mix. A £5 drink has a very different journey to a premium beauty product. What matters is understanding the data and designing the strategy accordingly.

But omnichannel only works when the underlying choices are correct. The wrong retailer, distributor or channel mix does not just slow growth. It can trigger delistings, create compliance issues you have to remediate under time pressure, or force discounts that permanently compress your margins.

This is where Rove helps

Rove is designed for one job: reduce the risk of getting channel strategy wrong.

Our platform shows where customers actually shop, which channels matter in each market, and which retailers are the best fit, so brands can make decisions with evidence, not hope. It helps you answer three questions that determine whether your expansion becomes profitable growth or an expensive reversal:

• Should you go to market? Market demand, competitor reality, pricing and channel fit.
• Can you go to market? Regulatory, legal, operational and duty implications before you commit.
• How do you go to market? The right route-to-market partners without months of trial-and-error.

Reason to believe (one avoided outcome): A drinks brand planning to enter Germany looked viable on the surface. But when we tested market pricing and channel reality, the data showed their intended retail price point was roughly double what the market would absorb. Instead of discovering that after a costly launch (discounting, write-offs, retailer friction), they corrected pricing and channel approach upfront and avoided a margin-destroying entry.

We also make execution faster. Instead of spending months finding partners, Rove gives brands direct access to verified retailer and distributor connections so you can start the right conversations immediately, without stepping into exclusivity traps or misaligned partnerships.

Channel strategy is critical for international growth

When brands think about expanding internationally, the first question is often “Which market should we go to”. The second question should be “Which channels matter in that market”.

Amazon is not the only option. In Poland, Allegro dominates. In many regions, physical retail is still the first place customers shop. In others, live shopping is growing quickly. Each country has its own ecosystem.

The mistake is assuming what works at home will work everywhere else. International growth requires local channel strategy. Because the cost of being wrong is not just slower growth. It is the time and money it takes to undo the consequences.

This is exactly why visibility is so valuable. When you know where shoppers are, you know where you need to be.

Put the product where customers are

In the end, it comes down to something very simple. Customers are not loyal to channels. They are loyal to what is convenient. They do not think in terms of online or offline. They think in terms of the easiest way to get what they want.

If customers are in supermarkets, be in supermarkets. If they enjoy live shopping, experiment with live shopping. If they browse on Amazon and then buy in store, give them the information they need to do both.

Physical retail still matters. Online still matters. What matters most is being available wherever customers choose to shop – without making channel bets that are expensive to reverse.

This is the opportunity.

Stop wondering where. Start knowing how.

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