Although the "death of brick-and-mortar" was frequently discussed throughout 2017, it's clear now that the idea was more fiction than fact: During the holidays, brick-and-mortar stores actually posted year-over-year (YOY) sales gains.

But how consumers shop in-store and what influences their purchases are changing.

Recently, Bazaarvoice released its second ROBO (research online, buy offline) research report, highlighting how consumer-generated content, such as online reviews, impacts offline purchases.

The report includes research of consumer behavior from more than 30 of the world;s leading retailers, across hundreds of brands and categories. Key takeaways from the report include the following:

• Nearly half (45%) of brick-and-mortar in-store buyers read online reviews before purchasing products; that's a 15% YOY increase.
• The ROBO multiplier, which measures how much online reviews influence in-store sales, varies by industry, ranging from $4.73 to $6.07. For example, in the art world, for every dollar of online revenue influenced by review content, reviews influence another $6.07 of in-store revenue.
• Half of all e-commerce traffic now runs on mobile, making omnichannel marketing vital in today's environment.