I recently ran across an article on trendwatching.com about a possible resurgence in offline shopping -- that is, shopping in real, live stores instead of through online vendors such as Amazon.com. While it's hard to beat the convenience of online shopping, it just doesn't offer the same experience or level of satisfaction as offline shopping. Here are some interesting stats from the article:

• 8 out of 10 consumers research purchases online. While 42% research online and then buy online, 51% research online and then buy in-store (Source: Google & IPSOS OTX, September 2010).
• Multi-channel consumers who receive information from more than one source (store, online, mobile, or catalogue) prior to purchase, spend 82% more per transaction than a customer who only shops in store (Source: Deloitte, December 2010).
• E-commerce conversion rates have been hovering around 2-3.5% while brick-and-mortar conversion rates for fashion retailers have been around 20-25% (Source: Verdict Research, May 2010).
• Of the 40% of US consumers who own smartphones, 70% use their smartphones while shopping in-store (Source: Google & IPSOS OTX, April 2011).
• 74% of smartphone shoppers made a purchase as a result of using their smartphone. Of these 76% have purchased in-store, 59% online while only 35% have made a purchase via their smartphone (Source: Google & IPSOS OTX, April 2011).
• Mobile barcode scanning (including traditional UPC barcodes and QR codes) increased 1,600% globally during 2010 (Source: Scanlife, December 2010).

What's especially interesting about the above stats is that they point out that many consumers do their product research online (often using their smartphones), but then buy the selected products offline. When I was interested in buying a new computer, I did TONS of research online -- checking out the various product offerings of many different vendors and computer resellers. However, when I finally settled on a particular iMac computer as the best one for my needs, I physically went to a nearby Apple Store to buy it.

Long story short, brick-and-mortar stores aren't dead yet -- far from it. Keep that in mind as you develop your product marketing and sales plans.