Brick and mortar

For other uses, see Brick and mortar (disambiguation).

This article is about the e-commerce concept. For brick and mortar construction, see Brickwork.

Brick and mortar (bricks and mortar or B&M) in its simplest usage describes the physical presence of a building(s) or other structure. It's a concept usually referred to in business, which applies to the physical location for a business or organization.

Brick and mortar business

The term brick and mortar business (bricks and mortar business or B&M business) is often used to refer to a company that possesses a building or store for operations. The name is a metonym derived from the traditional building materials associated with physical buildings — bricks and mortar. Its first use was in 1992.

More specifically, in the jargon of e-commerce businesses, brick and mortar businesses are companies that have a physical presence and offer face-to-face customer experiences. This term is usually used to contrast with a transitory business or an internet-only presence, such as an online shop, which have no physical presence for shoppers to visit and buy from directly, though such online businesses normally have non-public physical facilities from which they either run business operations, and/or warehousing for mass physical product storage and distribution. Concerns such as foot traffic, storefront visibility, and appealing interior design apply mainly to brick and mortar businesses rather than online ones.

The term is also a retronym in that most stores had a physical presence before the advent of the Internet. However, the term is also applicable when contrasting businesses with physical presence and those that operated strictly in an order-by-mail capacity pre-Internet. Some stores, such as Best Buy, Walmart and Target, are primarily known as brick and mortar businesses but also have online shopping sites.

See also

• Showrooming
• Bricks and clicks
• Bricks and clicks