Business Tips: Play the game

The retail plague of the modern age is here: showrooming. It happens when customers go to physical stores, look at the merchandise and then proceed to go online with their smart phone and buy it at a lower (and often nontaxable) price. This is becoming more common because the divide between online and offline retail is evaporating. Online retailers can carry a bigger inventory, display comparison shopping and offer fast, standard two-day delivery anywhere in the country.

Showrooming means lost sales for the brick and mortar stores. Statistics from Retail Information Systems (RIS) shows this as a troubling trend¹:

• Showrooming drives 50% of online sales.
• 20% of consumers who see a product in a store eventually buy it from an online-only retailer.
• 15% of consumers eventually purchase the product from a competitor as a result of their research.

What can a retailer do to combat this? Forget about getting customers to leave their smartphones at home. Here is the strategy that needs to be used to engage showroomers:
 

Educate employees. Many customers still like to talk to staff face to face to find the right product. Make sure your employees can answer their questions. This type of in person engagement is a huge competitive advantage. They should also have easy access to resources (iPads and other tablet devices) on the Web that describe every product and what competitors offer online.
 

Host in-store events. Have events that enhance the shopping experience and can’t be replicated online, such as gardening classes and live speakers around specific plants or other landscaping ideas.
 

Post-sale support. Offer live phone sales support for customers who buy from the store and have questions later.
 

Sell exclusive products. Differentiate retail products so they are not online commodities. Sell special bundles that solve customers’ pain in a local geographic area.
 

Price match. Emphasize that the store will match the lowest online price.

Give them credit. Before there were credit cards, customers were allowed to “run a tab.” Bring this back so they don’t have to pay for every purchase until the end of the month.
 

Provide same day delivery. This is still difficult for many online websites. Offer a courier service that will deliver the products the same day within a local shopping area.
 

Instant checkout. Allow customers to check out with salesperson with a tablet device.
 

Frequent buyer program apps. Use a loyalty program so customers have an incentive to come back and buy again. For example, Shopkick, a mobile, location-based app rewards customers with points that can be redeemed for in-store purchases only for retailers who participate. It also has features that help customers discover products before they shop.
 

Use “geofencing.” Send mobile marketing texts to buyers when they are in a geographic location around your store to attract additional foot traffic.
 

Emphasize shop local. Tell customers how shopping local keeps more money in town and grows the local economy. Partner with other local businesses to offer joint shopping rewards at both stores.
 

Publish inventory online. Play the online retailer’s game. Publish the store’s inventory on the company’s website to get showroomers, too!

Are your customers showrooming your business? What strategies are you using to win the battle?

Barry Moltz helps small businesses get unstuck. He is a motivational speaker, author and radio host. He can be found at www.barrymoltz.com.

1 Source: http://risnews.edgl.com/retail-trends/Showrooming--Converting-Showrooming-into-Customer-Engagement85548