Ben Ball

The Shopping Experience Gets a Tech-Up

August 27, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Consumers don't like shopping in stores as much as they once did and that's a problem for retailers with most of their dollars invested in brick and mortar outlets. What do you think are the biggest factors leading to consumers' unhappiness shopping in stores?      [more...]

Most of the comments so far have centered on the fundamentals of knowledgeable store personnel, fast and friendly service, and easy store navigation. And all those things certainly make a difference in how much consumers enjoy shopping the store they choose--and in how often they choose that store versus others.

But perhaps we are framing the question in the wrong light for best learning. Perhaps consumers aren't really "enjoying shopping in stores less than they used to." Perhaps they have simply found a way to shop that they prefer more than stores, period.

For a potential clue, look at the examples cited in the WSJ article for what retailers are doing to improve customer satisfaction. Practically every one is an attempt to replicate a feature of internet shopping in the store.

Digital navigation devices. Touch screens showing selection and pricing. Interactive mirrors that "suggest" complementary items or colors. These are all services consumers get every day just by sitting down at a decent website.

Perhaps the real effect we are seeing in shopper satisfaction is very much akin to the consumer reaction to self-scan. They can avoid one key aggravation factor--fallible human beings who all too often are not that enthusiastic, knowledgeable or polite. And they can gain one key benefit--they are always actively engaged in and in control of the process. So they generally feel they are making progress and heading in the direction they want to go. (Balky computers and poorly designed search engines notwithstanding.) In short, we are starting to like dealing with computers better than we like dealing with other people.

There are exceptions of course. My local wine merchant and butcher are still great ways to waste away a Saturday morning. And I still enjoy browsing and chatting with knowledgeable sales people in my favorite stores. Cabela's, Home Depot, Woodcrafters. But I'm even finding I do at least as much browsing and buying on the websites of those chains as I do in the stores now. Probably more.