Retailers Dread Phone-Wielding Shoppers

Ponca City writes "The WSJ reports that until recently, retailers could reasonably assume that if they just lured shoppers into stores with enticing specials, the customers could be coaxed into buying more profitable stuff too. But now, marketers must contend with shoppers who can use their smartphones inside stores to check whether the specials are really so special. 'The retailer's advantage has been eroded,' says analyst Greg Girard, adding that roughly 45% of customers with smartphones had used them to perform due diligence on a store's prices. 'The four walls of the store have become porous.' Although store executives publicly welcome a price-transparent world, retail experts don't expect all chains to measure up to the harsh judgment of mobile price comparisons, and some will need to find new ways to survive. 'Only a couple of retailers can play the lowest-price game,' says Noam Paransky. 'This is going to accelerate the demise of retailers who do not have either competitive pricing or a standout store experience.'"

Comments

Re:So, the system works?

[Abstrackt]

If the fact that Wal-Mart is the only local place I can buy my clothes and groceries is a sign the system is working I'm not so sure I want it to work. I'm not saying we should regulate the hell out of everything but I really miss having other options when I shop.

And Nothing of Value was Lost

[rwv]

Stores can no longer use tricks to get me to spend my money there, and I'm okay with that.

I actually bought an iPod case at Best Buy the other day for $11 knowing it was available on Amazon for $7. The brick-and-mortar shopping experience is still worth it if I want something now or doing what to worry about paying for shipping (usually I buy *more* than I need at Amazon for small purchases to qualify for free shipping).

At the end of the day, the customer wins. The best stores win. And crappy stores lose. This is a good thing.

Re:Books

[MyLongNickName]

This reminds me of the results of a survey. People were asked "If you found out that this $100 piece of software were only $50 across town, would you leave this store, drive across town and buy it cheaper?" The answer was almost always less. Others were asked "If you found out that this $1,000 computer were available for $950 across town, would you leave this store and by it cheaper?" Fewer than half said yes.

So why is the value of our time less for more expensive products? It seems people are fundamentally illogical. Yes, I know... I must be new here.

Self Price Match

[Cemu]

I recently shopped at both Best Buy and Sears and discovered that their online store sale prices were $80 and $70 cheaper than what their brick and mortar store could offer. I showed a sales member their store's site on my phone but it turns out that they can't match their own prices. I do, however, like both stores' website's option to buy now and pickup in the store. Yep, I bought the item online while in the store and just walked over to customer service and picked it up 10 minutes later.

Re:I did this

[DigiShaman]

I'm willing to bet that while one product is cheaper at one store, another may be more expensive. It could be a washout when it's all said and done shopping. If I was a sales manager, I would be offering some incentive to my customers to do all their shopping at my store at once. The more they spend, the greater their savings. I'm willing to bet it would keep people from playing the numbers game with you, and who want's to bounce around stores just to save a few bucks on a toy anyways?

Re:So, the system works?

[radtea]

I was able to actually see the TV, see how it looked, and spin the thing around to look at how the I/O ports are configured.

Having just helped my g/f buy a netbook at Best Buy, I'd highly recommend you do the same thing to the TV they actually sold you, which may not be the one on the shelf.

Seriously: the clowns at Best Buy tried to sell us the wrong netbook with the wrong battery at the wrong price. That was AFTER I had opened the box to check things and noticed a 25 Whr battery that was supposed to last six hours, spoke to the sales-person about it, who spoke to the "Geek Squad" clown about it, who assured me that advances in battery tech and power management made it totally plausible that it was the right battery.

When I realized the price was wrong on the bill I got the sales clown to bug the manager who tried to blow me off. I then pointed out the model number on the bill was different from the one on the self and the manager claimed the last four digits were only for colour. I leaned on them (politely) and got them to look up the model number online, and lo and behold it was rather more than the colour that varied with those crucial last digits.

So a computer-literate, physically imposing man who has been described as 'forceful' in performance reviews was just barely able to get the correct product out of Best Buy. I can only imagine what the average person goes home with.

The best thing: after all this my g/f decided to buy a carry-bag for the netbook, and they charged her the wrong price for it (she went back the next day and got it reduced to the posted price, and they immediately pulled the posted price off the stand...)

I've had pretty terrible experiences with TigerDirect, who have great prices but really annoying follow-up (endless calls from salespeople). But I'd gladly buy from them if it meant never having to set foot in Best Buy again.