Brick and Mortar Lives On: Lessons from JP Morgan Chase

‍At GrowthFactor, we are learning everyday on retail trends of industry leaders. In this blog post, we get into a major signal from JP Morgan Chase and want to talk more about why it matters for you and your company. 

JP Morgan Chase announced earlier this year it will open 500 new bank branches in a multi-billion dollar investment to increase their retail presence, seemingly defying the prevailing narrative of “brick and mortar is dead”. 

Why would a company so massive and well-resourced make an investment that, on the surface, flies counter to the broader industry trend of bank closures?

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For answers, we can first turn to the company’s press release from February 2024. A whopping three-quarters of deposits are held by customers who frequently visit brick-and-mortar sites. They also disclosed that they intend to use the branches as a marketing strategy. With 100 locations opening in rural communities coupled with an investment in community-center-style locations and community managers, the bank is sending a signal. They are announcing to the world that their brand is here to help them in person, to connect with them in their communities, and to make their lives easier by being locally driven. In their own words,  “When we open a branch, we’re not only investing in the financial health of residents, we’re committed to the health and vitality of the entire community," said Marianne Lake, CEO of Consumer & Community Banking.

JP Morgan has realized three extremely important truths about human behavior:

1. Physical connection breeds trust

2. Real is more valuable than virtual

3. Convenience is king  

People live in the real world, and despite four years of a global pandemic making virtual conferencing a business standard, many of us have realized that there is no true replacement for a real-world handshake. Nearly 4 in 5 Gen Z shoppers think trust is more important today than it was in the past¹. This holds more broadly as well – 88% of surveyed adults said trust was an important consideration in their decision to buy a brand, with 60% of adults more likely to purchase a brand if they trusted it. Trust pays in dividends and leads to further sales via word-of-mouth referrals, with 67% of surveyed consumers indicating they are more likely to stay loyal and refer others to a brand they trust. Having a physical location for Chase branches allows JP Morgan to let its customers develop relationships with individual bankers while opening up a side of the corporation that is more authentic and organic than the online banking portal.

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A tangible, physical experience feels more valuable than one experienced only digitally. The data reflects this; 57% of all shoppers prefer buying in person, and this trend is interestingly stronger with Gen Z. 61% of Gen Z shoppers surveyed indicated a higher propensity to buy in-person, not counting for the e-commerce sales driven by seeing an item in real life and deciding to ship-to-home. For JP Morgan, this is a no-brainer; people want to be able to talk to a human when they are dealing with a high-value item. This holds true for retail businesses as well; getting personal assistance with a purchase was a key driver of in-person shopping behavior for 46% of surveyed consumers.

Finally, a truth known to all: convenience is king. The rise of e-commerce was largely driven by Amazon’s 2-day shipping guarantee, allowing shoppers to rapidly get items without having to leave the comfort of their own home. Today, nearly 70% of shoppers think about delivery time as a top priority for online purchases². Brick-and-mortar locations take this one step further – you see something you like, you can walk out of the store with it that same day. On a strategic side, physical locations can function as distribution centers, allowing brands to consolidate shipping. Of course, a truly convenient location must be easy to get to and strategically situated to maximize the value for its customers, something that companies like JP Morgan heavily consider when opening a new store. In fact, they did the diligence to understand which markets they wanted to invest heavily in, and which ones they wanted to avoid, because they understand the market can make or break the location.

JP Morgan is being strategic about where it opens a store, and with the shifting market trends, the importance of finding the right site is more important than ever. The perfect site does it all: it creates a hub to build brand awareness and trust, it provides a personal and real experience and serves as a convenient center. To do it all, the location must be situated in the right market, must be easy to get to, and must appeal to the customers who need it the most. JP Morgan is going all-in on real estate by knowing exactly where to play.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main benefits of brick and mortar lives on lessons from jp morgan chase?

JP Morgan Chase announced earlier this year it will open 500 new bank branches in a multi-billion dollar investment to increase their retail presence, seemingly defying the prevailing narrative of “brick and mortar is dead”. 

How do I get started with brick and mortar lives on lessons from jp morgan chase?

Begin by auditing your current workflow and identifying where manual processes slow you down. Modern platforms like GrowthFactor consolidate multiple data sources into a single interface, so you can move from research to decision in minutes rather than days. Most teams are fully productive within their first week.

Why is JPMorgan Chase expanding its physical branch network when other banks are closing locations?

JPMorgan Chase's branch expansion strategy reflects research showing that physical presence in a market increases digital product adoption and customer acquisition across all channels — not just in-branch transactions. The bank has used data-driven site selection to identify markets where branch presence correlates with outsized share growth in checking, mortgage, and investment products. This demonstrates that brick and mortar investment, when informed by the right analytics, can drive ROI that purely digital strategies cannot replicate.

What does JPMorgan Chase's branch expansion tell us about the future of physical retail?

The Chase expansion is a high-profile case study confirming that physical locations serve as trust signals and brand anchors that digital channels cannot fully replace. Consumers across categories — from banking to retail to dining — consistently show higher lifetime value when they have access to both physical and digital touchpoints with a brand. Businesses that write off brick and mortar in favor of pure digital strategies often underestimate the discovery, trial, and loyalty functions that physical presence performs.

How does strategic planning inform brick and mortar location decisions?

Strategic planning for physical locations requires aligning market entry priorities with demographic data, competitive white space, and long-term real estate feasibility — not just short-term traffic metrics. Companies like JPMorgan Chase build detailed market prioritization models that score geographies on indicators including household income growth, underbanked population density, and competitor branch saturation. This kind of structured, data-backed strategic planning separates brands that expand successfully from those that open locations reactively and struggle to achieve unit-level profitability.

What role does business intelligence play in physical location strategy?

Business intelligence tools allow brands to analyze which physical locations generate the highest customer lifetime value, cross-sell rates, and net promoter scores — then use those performance patterns to inform where to open next. At scale, business intelligence surfaces counterintuitive insights, such as lower-cost markets where branch or store density is more effective than high-visibility flagship locations. Organizations that embed business intelligence into their location strategy iterate faster and waste less capital on underperforming sites.

What can retail brands learn from JPMorgan Chase's omnichannel approach?

The core lesson from JPMorgan Chase's strategy is that physical and digital channels are multiplicative, not substitutable — each channel makes the other more effective when coordinated around a consistent customer experience. Retailers who view stores purely as transaction points miss their role as discovery, service, and relationship-building environments that reduce digital acquisition costs. Brands that engineer deliberate integration between their in-store and digital customer journeys tend to generate measurably higher revenue per customer than single-channel competitors.

How do demographics influence the decision to open or close brick and mortar locations?

Demographic analysis drives brick and mortar location decisions by identifying markets where population growth, income trends, and consumer spending patterns align with a brand's core customer profile. Markets with aging populations, declining household formation, or income compression typically produce weaker brick and mortar performance regardless of initial traffic volume. Forward-looking brands model 5–10 year demographic trajectories when evaluating lease terms rather than relying solely on current market conditions.

Is brick and mortar retail still a viable investment in 2026?

Brick and mortar retail remains a viable and often superior investment in 2026 when location selection is rigorous and the physical format is designed to deliver experiences that digital channels cannot replicate. The distinction is no longer between physical and digital but between well-located, experientially differentiated stores and undifferentiated commodity retail that competes on price and convenience against e-commerce. Brands making data-informed site selection decisions are opening profitable locations in categories that were incorrectly written off as terminal.

How does foot traffic data inform brick and mortar expansion decisions?

Foot traffic data derived from mobile device location signals allows brands to measure actual consumer movement patterns around candidate sites before signing a lease, replacing the guesswork of manual traffic counts. This data reveals not just volume but visitor origin, dwell time, and cross-shopping behavior — inputs that predict whether a site will attract a brand's target customer or simply generate pass-by traffic that does not convert. Incorporating foot traffic analytics into site selection decisions is one of the highest-leverage practices in modern brick and mortar expansion strategy.