Bill Bittner

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...]

I think retailers who own brick and mortar outlets have to rethink the role these physical outlets should provide in their overall effort to reach consumers.

No physical environment is going to replace the expanse of the Internet. You could spend a fortune training employees about products and a new vendor will introduce a twist that redefines the whole category. Consumers are no longer "shopping with a clue." Most often, they have done online research and have already made their choice. They are coming to the store either because they "need it right away" or there is one characteristic (how does it look on me) they can't quite satisfy by looking at a website. So if the physical product matches their preconception, the consumer is done.

So what does this mean for the retailer? Especially for supermarket retailers, I believe there is a whole new type of outlet to be introduced. The goal is to combine the physical and online presences in such a way that they complement one another. Let the consumer do their shopping online. There they can shop the online store, prepare a shopping list, and have it filled if they wish. The online store can offer products that are not usually carried in the physical store. The customer still goes to the physical store to pick up their shopping. The result is that you end up with limited line physical outlets supported by a vast Internet store that serves "the long tail." This makes it easy to handle the "cold chain" issues and the smaller footprint means the locations can be closer to the consumer.