Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

Since the first dot-com boom when a few brave souls ventured online to do their shopping and risk losing their identities, experts have predicted the demise of malls and other physical stores. Online sales this year are expected to come in well above last year’s totals, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing for retailers as long as they realize what’s happening and capitalize on it.

Try to think back to the first time you went to a retailer’s website that wasn’t Amazon (they don’t fit into my theory because they lack a physical presence). You probably wanted to check out what items were available and compare prices, but might not have purchased anything. Websites were primarily for research before making a purchase in-store because of the high cost and long wait for shipping items.

Today, many retailers (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City among them) offer in-store pickup, ship-to-store, or free express shipments to homes. The question then is, where does that leave your local brick-and-mortar store?

If I were the head of a large retailer, I’d start thinking about the offline experience the way they used to think about the online experience: as a tool for research. It’s already starting to happen in some ways. If you walk into a Best Buy, there are dozens of different HDTV models to look at. Customers are comfortable buying online, but there are still some products they want to see, touch, and try first. I know from the experience of buying my last two laptops and a television that these stores don’t stock most of the items on display. Retailers want you to fill your virtual shopping cart, not one in the store. Even the TV commercials this holiday season encouraged people to shop, schedule installation appointments, and purchase gift cards online.

Many retail stores aren’t ready to move most customers online. The ones that already have put systems in place to manage the overall experience. Shipping times have to be fast, stock levels need to be instantly available to store employees and through the company’s website, and pricing must be consistent. My belief is that when all the numbers are in from every channel, the shopping season won’t look so bad in retrospect.

Do you think retailers should see stores more like a showroom than a purchasing channel? How much more convenient does online buying have to become before sales exceed all other channels? Is there a reason retail sales have seemed lower than usual other than increased online activity or the economic downturn?