Away Is Opening More Stores, And They’re Lifting Omnichannel Sales

Away, a luggage company known for its simple yet beautiful travel essentials recently opened its 14^th store. Its 13^th store opened in 2021, and its reasoning for continuing the expansion now stems from the stores’ impact across channels. The company sees stores as part of a more effective omnichannel strategy. One where every time a store opens in a new market, it lifts online sales by 150% a year later.

“The stores are critical touch points that enable that lifelong relationship with our customers. They provide meaningful interactions with our product and staff, which do an excellent job interacting with the customers. And we know this because we do a lot of research, and we know that after visiting the store, 94% say that they would go back,” Catherine Dunleavy, President of Away, shared.

The most recent store opened in San Jose’s Santana Row, where the company donated 100% of its proceeds on day one to Global Glimpse, a local non-profit that empowers students to travel. The timing of this opening was driven by the omnichannel impact of stores and the overall demand for traveling right now. For instance, a survey by The Vacationer released in March stated that nearly 85% of Americans plan to travel this summer, with 42% saying they’ll travel more than last summer. In addition, in a post-pandemic world where people are becoming increasingly comfortable making trips, it’s a prime time for customers to purchase new luggage and travel accessories.

Retail doesn’t stand alone; it’s part of an omnichannel strategy.

Away’s decision to continue its store expansion now makes sense. However, unlike many other retailers, it’s hyper-focused on viewing this expansion as not retail growth but omnichannel growth. Many researchers have discussed and examined the impact of stores on different channels. For instance, ICSC performed a study in 2018 on this effect. It cited that opening a new store leads to a 37% gain in traffic to a brand’s website and increases its share of web traffic by 27%. However, it also found that the opposite happens (online traffic decreases) when stores close. Another brand that’s also spoken out about this impact is Glossier, which saw a rise in social media likes, shares, and overall sales after opening a store. Away has experienced this effect, if not more significantly, and therefore sees these stores as pieces in a much larger puzzle.

Customer feedback is at the center of its store evolution.

In addition to Away’s perspective of retail changing, its experience also has. “We know that customers love personalized moment, we know that they love product education, particularly around packing and products, we also know that our customers really resonate with social impact opportunities like we just did with our latest store opening with Global Glimpse, and of course, they always love gifting with a purchase. So, the evolution has been learning what our customers love, listening to them, and bringing that back into our retail experiences and our overall Away omnichannel experience,” Dunleavy stated.

The first Away store opened in 2016 in New York City. The concept has come a long way, mainly revolving around the customer experience and education. Our Place, a kitchenware brand, also focuses on education in its stores. Both products are items that aren’t bought all the time but that many customers need guidance to purchase. This learning and highly interactive in-store experience is vital to long-term retail and an omnichannel strategy.

Data and customers will drive future locations.

Undoubtedly, customers will continue to impact where Away opens new locations. However, the brand also shared its use of various data points to drive its decision-making, specifically citing foot traffic, travel spending, and migration as some of the critical inputs. This data also led to sourcing a new location in Georgetown, Washington D.C., and most recently, Newbury Street in Boston, both of which will open later this year, with likely many more to come.