Shopping Offline and Why You Still Should
As online shopping has surged, traditional retailers have lost millions in sales to showrooming. What is showrooming? The practice of examining merchandise in a traditional brick and mortar retail store without purchasing it.
Why The Offline Shopping Experience Still Matters: While it is obvious that online stores and shopping venues are here to stay, it is equally obvious that they will never completely replace the offline shopping experience. In fact, due to online to ability to shop online without ever leaving the house shopping in that brick and mortar store may be even more important than ever before as long as retail stores are willing to go beyond just selling their fashions and other merchandise and creating a real experience for their customers.
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Why The Offline Shopping Experience Is Important
With a still shaky economy, and lower income levels than ever before, consumers have less money to spend when shopping which means that they simply don't shop as often or buy as much when they do shop.
It also means that when they do get the opportunity to shop for something they need or want they view shopping as a temporary escape and a treat rather than a daily experience and they want to get out and enjoy the experience to the fullest.
This means actually getting out of the house and planning for their shopping experience. Whether the customer goes alone or with friends or family members shopping has become an excursion rather than just something to do and the shops that can offer their customers a pleasurable experience are the ones that are going to thrive in today's world.
Which is exactly why many offline shops are combining both an offline and online experience. New businesses are carefully considering not only the best locales, but also the best decor, lighting, music and displays. Window displays are once again a big deal advertising the best of what these stores have to offer and creating an interest for shoppers to come and explore.
Products are arranged to make it easier than ever before for customers to see, touch, and feel the products as this provides an experience that online shops simply cannot provide. However, retail stores also know with the whole world going mobile that it is easier than ever before for customers to compare prices so that once they see a product if the store can't offer prices in line with those online shops, that their customers will order online. So in order to compete, stores are offering the best experience possible to cement customer loyalty.
This means hiring friendly helpful personnel, Providing places to rest, and in some cases even free coffee or soft drinks. The result is a wonderful well rounded experience for the customer which is something that online stores simply can't duplicate.
The benefits of offline shopping Until the day comes when we can press a button and clothing appears out of thin air avoiding the need to have anything shipped or waiting in line. Going to a physical store still trumps online shopping as you can have your new product immediately without waiting for shipping. If you desired a new piece, you can get your hands on it today. Other retail outlets have even opted to encourage shoppers to buy online and pick up in-store. Read more about his here.
Support Small Boutiques and Avoid Chain Stores Why you should support local businesses and skip the major outlets
A store in Australia made headlines earlier this year for charging consumers $5 to just walk through the door. The decision was made following the growth of "showrooming," a familiar concept when a person heads into a physical store to check out merchandise before finding the same product at a cheaper price online.
So is showrooming a bad thing?
"Overall, it's neither good nor bad, depending on whether you view it as the death of physical retail or a kick to traditional retailers to innovate their cross-channel experience," Gillespie of Continuum says. "Those who are tackling it head-on may actually consider show-rooming the future of retail."
Daily Finance's Matt Brownell calls this policy, "the most misguided strategy we've seen for dealing with showrooming...The goal of any retailer should be to impress customers with competitive pricing and great customer service - not treat their customers with suspicion and hostility from the moment they walk in the door."
Read more: http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/just-looking-fee-customers-showrooming/
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