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Click-and-mortar is a form of electronic commerce in which customers shop over the Internet on electronic retailers’ websites, but are also able to physically visit the retailer’s brick-and-mortar store. Click-and-mortar shopping provides customers with the efficiency of online transactions, as well as the face-to-face interaction of retail stores.
Click-and-mortar is also known as DOTBAM, or dot-com brick-and-mortar.
Techopedia Explains Click-and-Mortar
Click-and-mortar is a play on brick-and-mortar, where mortar refers to the bonding material used to lay bricks.
Companies that exclusively sell their merchandise online are not considered click-and-mortar stores; and the same can be said for companies that don’t have websites to advertise their merchandise. Sometimes consumers must visit a physical store if the product they desire is no longer in stock online. Similarly, a customer may check a retailer’s click-and-mortar store if an item is sold out at the brick-and-mortar store.
The term is a remnant of the dotcom bubble when it was actually unique for a company to have both an online and offline presence. Nowadays, it’s more of a shock for a company to not have some synchronization between the physical stores and their online storefront.
