An ever growing amount of surveys and articles try to convince us about the fact that classical retailing is about to die and ready to be replaced by internet shopping. Remarkable however that all of these messages come from people involved in the internet industry. All of them earn their money by promoting the internet. If you dive more seriously into the world of internet you will discover that many projects failed, competition is increasing and making profit hard to do. It is quite a doubt whether you as a successful retailer has to start an internet shop as well. It seems much more logical to put that same effort in your own retail activities and increase your natural business and…even more important immediately increase your profit instead of investing in a wild and uncertain adventure.
And in case you choose to invest in your store, do you have to do that by installing all kind of gadgets like ‘tweet’ mirrors or ‘facebook’ applications? Will you profit from offering your clients the chance to ask all their friends what they think of the product they choose or does all this need to camouflage your lack of selling power, arguments and skills to close the deal?
It looks like especially stores with a high level of ‘me too’ products need to use all kind of gadgets in order to distinguish themselves from others. Those who do so with their products, experience of expertise don’t need all these gadgets. I haven’t seen ‘tweet’ mirrors in the most exciting shops in the world or at the shopping paradises of Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Burberry or whatever interesting brand. Not even in Apple stores! They all concentrate on presenting and selling their own products and ‘heritage’ and seem to be very successful with it.
Let’s not join the internet and gadgets hype too easily and forget where it is all about. It is about quality, unique products, skills and expertise and experiences in our stores. Stay tuned and develop your store! It will certainly bring you more as just a wild internet adventure!
