Offline browsing, online shopping. A new way of life...

A new word is entering the vocabulary of the consumer. Even if he  does not yet know the exact word, he knows how to extract the maximum benefit of the internet. Comparison shopping….

My 18 year old daughter Apoorva , wanted a new phone and after a lot of surveys, figured out that she wanted a HTC Explorer and got a commitment of Rs. 9,000 payment from me. Then, she did what most net savvy youngsters have started doing.

By this time, she had figured out, that the phone was priced at about Rs. 9000 at physical mobile stores like Croma, Univercell and Sangeetha in Bangalore. A little internet search on www.flipkart.com  revealed that it was priced at Rs. 8500 there. A little more comparison shopping showed  her that it was priced at Rs. 8090 on a classified advertising site called Sulekha.com, something she never knew existed , provided, the order was placed using a facebook login, where she could get this additional discount of some 400 Rs. And she went ahead and placed the order on Sulekha.com and it was promptly delivered a few days later.

Learnings :-

What are the learnings for physical retailers ? who seem to be opening more and more stores, each bigger than the other ? Already , it is such a big problem in the US, that the word “comparision shoping “ is common knowledge, where a shopper goes to a physical store, browses, compares feature for feature, get the price, and then gets the best price from the internet retailer, who has no “physical overheads” to pay for. Big Box retailers are closing down and one of the best companies BEST BUY is having a lot of problems...

Questions :-

Is there a way to keep such customers loyal to a physical store or is there a way to keep such customers loyal to even an internet retailer or is just price the only way to drive traffic.

Answers :-

It might be difficult to get a single answer that is right , but one way to go could be a brick and click retailers, who might just display products in a physical store, and deliver it from their “e retail” warehouses in some far off corner , but with good road connectivity. Bhiwandi , just of Bombay seems to be a good location for many warehouses ..

May be, e retailers like Flipkart or Indiaplaza and others could tie up with physical retailers, and each can leverage their respective strengths.

A recent study showed, retailers  who are good at physical retailing have struggled to get the digital model right, and those who are internet retailers have struggled to get the physical model right( though not many have tried it on a large scale ).

I am sure there is a lot more to come in the near future... stay tuned. And share your experiences…

shivaram

http://www.RetailGurukul.com
Fb, Twitter, Linkedin RetailGurukul
Cell 90 360 36524

Posted in: Consumer, Offline, Online, Price, Retail, shopping