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Retail Chains To Strike Back Against Online Vendors
Hugh Pickens writes "Marissa Taylor says the retail chains' worst nightmare are consumers who come in to take a look at merchandise in-store, but use smartphone apps to shop for cheaper prices online. But now stores like low-end retail chain Target plan to fight 'showrooming' by scaling up their business models and asking vendors to create Target-exclusive products that can't be found online. 'The bottom line is that the more commoditized the product is, the more people are going to look for the cheapest price,' says Morningstar analyst Michael Keara. 'If there's a significant price difference [among retailers] and you're using it on a regular basis, you're going to go to Amazon.' Target recently sent an 'urgent' letter to vendors, asking them to 'create special products that would set it apart from competitors.' Target's letter insisted that it would not 'let online-only retailers use our brick-and-mortar stores as a showroom for their products and undercut our prices without making investments, as we do, to proudly display your brands.' Target also announced that it had teamed up with a handful of unique specialty shops that will offer limited edition merchandise on a rotating basis within Target stores in hopes of creating an evolving shopping experience for customers. Target is 'exercising leverage over its vendors to achieve the same pricing that smaller, online-only retailers receive,' says Weinswig. 'This strategy would help Target compete with retailers like Amazon on like-for-like products.'"
This will work for a few weeks before people simply look up the equivalent part numbers. Sears tried this already. It sucked, made headaches, and didn't help the problem at all.
I do the opposite of what this article suggests. I'll look up reviews or whatever online, and instead of waiting around for shipping I go out and buy it. I've even done this with Target.
If they stop carrying these products, then I will never be buying from them, since they'll have nothing I want to buy.
They'll just make a nearly-identical, but corner-cut model?
That's about what the folks in Bentonville push to their stores - where you don't know until you call for support.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I don't visit Target for anything. Instead, I lurk forums and post appropriate questions as necessary.
No need to spend precious gas money and time to drive to brick-and-mortar stores.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
At least they're not trying to legislate their way out of it.
Ok so your going to drive to the store, find the product you want, scan it on amazon, save really nothing since you already wasted the time and gas, wait a week for it to ship and then if you dont like it pay to ship it back, wait another week etc
and with amazon charging sales tax now and in the near future is it really worth it?
The way I see it, "showrooming" is indeed bad for retail chains, but they way they are dealing with this is wrong.
Either
a) The exclusive products aren't worth it (or simply not needed)
b) The exclusive products _are_ worth it, and people will become angry
In general "exclusive items" or "limited edition merchandise" (with a few exceptions) is nothing the average buyer likes/wants.
Don't bother adding *real* value, just make it harder for the consumer in the long run. This will end well.
I always thought they were too upscale for close-out shoppers like me.
The problem with Target-exclusive products is there will be no way to read reviews as there will be essentially none online. And I don't buy anything of substance without researching it.
"Don't Follow Leaders." Bob Dylan
I went looking for a car seat for my daughter at babysrus and scanned the bar code to check how good/bad the price was. The only result was from babysrus online. I looked it up by name and found it on Amazon.com for a couple bucks cheaper. For a couple bucks more I bought it in store, but I felt a bit creepy about it. Clearly they had their own SKU of what was presumably the same product sold elsewhere, just to fool people like me who try to do some comparison shopping.
I've seen a couple of products at different stores that have the original UPC covered up with a store specific UPC that displays no useful information when you scan it with a phone. The product might be available online elsewhere, but it makes it really annoying to look up with your phone.
i don't like the idea of such a tremendous waste of physical space. i think one of the great things about shopping online is not having to deal with rude customers, kids, thrashed up products, parking, etc. also, i just think that these huge warehouse-like stores use up valuable space that could be used for other things.
anyone who has shopped for a mattress in the US knows that the brands have all colluded (the S-brands; funny how the 'sleep' companies insist their names also start with an S) to change their model names from store to store!
some stores are willing to help you decode the names into equivalent model names in their stores; but usually its a fixed game against you, the consumer.
so, target and others want to play the mattress game?
you know, when you declare war on your own customers, it may backfire. just saying...
get wise, retailers. don't pull this shit, please! decades of this mattress syndrome has made mattress shopping as frustrating as used car shopping, and about as unpleasant. you want that image stuck to YOUR products and 'show rooms'?
re-think this, guys. I'm pretty sure you don't really want what this will get you.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
This has been done in the UK for some time, though for slightly different reasons. Having exactly the same product aside from it having a different model name/number used to be something a couple of camera manufacturers used to do for Dixons/Currys/PCWorld. It meant that price-match offers could be very generous (Found it cheaper elsewhere? We'll refund three times the difference!), because they would never need to pay out as no one else carried that exact model (well, they did, but with a different label) except those three stores which always had it at the same price as they are all owned by the same parent group.
Instead of fight against "lookers", embrace them. Who cares how the sale is made: if having a store improves online sales, that's a good thing. And, have the stores shift into a service center instead of just a physical catalog. A physical presence to demonstrate features first-hand and help trouble-shoot on-the-spot is sorely lacking online.
Change with the times, guys. Sure, you'll have to shuffle around your business model a bit, but the sooner you embrace the new model instead of fight it, the better.
Table-ized A.I.
If I can't find any reviews for products on independent sites, I won't buy them. So if Target only carries custom products, I'm a lot less likely to find a review for that product. That means I won't be shopping at Target.
At this point, the only reason for B&M stores to exist is for time critical situations when you can't wait a day or two to get your item off the internet. There's no way they're going to be able to compete with the internet on price. Compete on convenience and charge for it. Yes, it will be a smaller market, but that's progress.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
"Marissa Taylor says the retail chains' worst nightmare are consumers who come in to take a look at merchandise in-store, but use smartphone apps to shop for cheaper prices online.
This is no different from how I shop for groceries: look at the ads in the Sunday paper, find the coupons, shop for X and one store, Y at another, Z at the third.
Welcome to the 21st century. Get used to it, Target.
Display some adaptability.
Costco already beats online retailers with three strategies:
1) It sells extras with the package that are not included with the regular offering. My roomba came with extra room markers and extra filters.
2) When the first two roombas I purchased crapped out, Costco exchanged them no questions asked. I had to try three units before I got one that worked reliably. Had I bought from Amazon, I would have had to pay to return the units and that's assuming they would have accepted them back.
3) Costco prices goods very aggressively.so they're usually around the same price as what's offered online.
Way too much effort involved in sorting through all the buying options. E.g. I would use a new digital camera, but I can't be bothered sorting through a zillion camera models and retailers. I still have a decrepit dumb phone for the same reason.
I don't get any satisfaction from navigating the maze of hassle thrown up by retailers these days.
So, let's see...I drive 25 miles (each way) to Best Buy to try out a gizmo. The price at Best Buy is $250, the price at Amazon is $235.
It's not worth $15 to me to wait, especially as I've already committed to drive 50 miles. So I tell the sales droid to grab one for me.
Turns out that they don't actually have it in stock, but offer to order it for in-store pickup next weekend. For $250.
At that point I click the order button at Amazon on my cell phone, and it's at my house in mid-week. For $235.
You lost a sale, Best Buy. This has happened multiple times. Ever since Circuit City went under, Best Buy has down way downhill.
Amazon didn't kill you. You killed yourself.
A retailer's worst nightmare isn't people that come into their stores and comparison shop online while they are surrounded by in-store advertising and are subject to impulse purchases. Their worst nightmare is people like me that usually choose to research and shop online without ever setting foot in the store.
If Target starts selling a bunch of house-brand crap that I can't research online, I'll be even less likely to buy something there. Unless it's cheap stuff like cleaning supplies, but I usually just buy the store brand of stuff like that anyway.
This really isn't that difficult. If someone is coming into your store and won't buy from you because they can get it elsewhere for cheaper then simply match the price. Either that or throw in some extras like a free upgrade or accessory if they purchase the item in question.
I would always go into Best Buy and look through their enormous DVD library. The shop near me had literally hundreds of foreign films and shows in stock all in region 1 including a gigantic aisle of only anime films and shows. I'd show up, take note of what looked good, and then go online and find them for literally 50-80% off in brand new sealed boxes.
One time I wanted to buy a DVD and said that if they matched the online price of another retailer that I would buy it. They declined and I ended up buying it online later that day.
It's really not that hard for consumers who have a choice. You might occasionally need the convenience of immediate purchase at retail. But most of the time people can wait to order consume electronics or entertainment media. So they'll sacrifice immediacy in order to save money.
I just did this last weekend looking for a new keyboard and webcam. I went into a local chain store, found the products I was looking for after picking them up and reading the boxes, scanned their barcodes with my android app, and found them online (amazon) for almost half the price with free shipping.
As a consumer I am simply making the best purchasing decision possible. This provides me the advantage of actually holding the product first before I make my buying decision, BUT that buying decision will be based on the overall cost and not a loyalty to chain stores. Chain stores who have stretched themselves so far in hopes of getting a piece of an increasingly shrinking market which now belongs to online.
So Target's reaction to the competition is to simply stop shelving products that are available online? That seems self defeating to me. At least I'm coming into your store, do a better job at keeping me there to buy things.
FTA "limited edition merchandise on a rotating basis" AKA "We're going to try and sell the same products everyone else has but put the name of a famous celebrity on them to convince you to pay double what you would pay online for the same tangible product. Then we're going to keep it around just for a few weeks and spend our marketing dollars telling everyone that it's a limited time offer!"
Change or die, those who refuse to change DESERVE to die.
They already do this with some toy lines. At least the line I know of/am aware of is My Little Pony. They offer exclusive toys that can't be found anywhere else, in a market that's suffering from variety/quality issues. So it's something I actually appreciate, and will cause me to enter Targets from time to time, when I would otherwise have no reason to. Toys-R-Us does this too, to the same effect.
I wouldn't mind seeing this business practice in other products, if it actually meant receiving quality alternatives.
Has anyone else seen Isaac Mizrahi collection of women's wear anywhere else ? Or Mossimo brand of anything for that matter ? This is like google's privacy policy bruhaha. They are just making it public. And for the prices they sell the cheap Chinese knock off apparel, I'd rather go to Wallyworld and buy the 25-30% cheaper. They may not carry the same brand but who cares as long as they are going to fall apart in 2 washes, no matter what ? For other things like consumables, or tools or electronics for that matter, good luck to target to get manufacturers to make distinct enough products so that they can not be found elsewhere but I'd bet my pennies to your dollar, savvy shoppers are able to cut the crud and put a damper to this approach. Does it matter 1080P TV set with 1000:1 contrast ration to carry a different brand and barcode, compared to its equivalent sold in Amazon, as long as you know both are coming from the Foxcon slave camp in China ? I sure don't...
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The more I know people, the more I love animals
At least here in the UK, the main PC / electronics retailers already have their own SKUs for essentially the same product available elsewhere. Only last week when browsing netbooks at my local Comet / PC World / Currys, I found several models of interest that I could find no information online for. I got chatting to one of the sales assistants about this and he admitted the main stores all do this now to combat customers going elsewhere. He also said it's very useful for them avoiding having to fulfill their price match guarantees because although the product may be identical elsewhere, it's a different SKU on their books.
Now people may pay a little more for good customer service but alot of the useing the store as a showroom comes from the extended warranty upsells that some times people at the store lie about what it covers, high priced cables that you don't need no a $50 HDMI cable is not better then a $10 one.
The magazine scam at checkout.
The geek squad that wants sales men over real techs.
Been done before...
This has been going on for years in the mattress industry. Identical products are sold under different labels, with huge markups. So there is an incentive to confound comparison shopping. They don't care about customer satisfaction or loyalty, because a mattress is not a frequent purchase.
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
ME: "Hey, do you have an XYZ Widget Plus in stock?"
Them: "No, that's not a normal stock item, but I can order one for you and have it here in a week for $250"
ME: "I can order it from Amazon Prime and have it here TOMORROW for $215, sorry."
The ONLY reason to go into a brick and mortar store is if you absolutely have to have it right now. Brick and Mortar did not adapt to the advent of online shopping. It's their fault. They needed to realize that they could no longer sell commoditized items. They would have to offer some REASON to pay MORE in a store. Without a significant value add, there's no reason to even set foot in a store anymore.
the only reason for B&M stores to exist is for time critical situations when you can't wait a day or two
That or it's an item in a category for which ergonomics is critically important. This might include a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone, where the way it fits your particular fingers and eyes can make or break a purchase.
Their worst nightmare is people like me that usually choose to research and shop online without ever setting foot in the store.
Say you buy a laptop, but you can't stand its screen. Or you buy a smartphone, but you can't stand the typo rate when you try to enter text with your fat fingers on its on-screen keyboard. If you had had a chance to try it in the store, you might have been able to avoid buying it in the first place.
asking vendors to create Target-exclusive products that can't be found online.
This strategy would help Target compete with retailers like Amazon on like-for-like products.
Those seem contradictory. Also, that doesn't help Target compete at all, it helps vendors compete against themselves and Target happens to win on one side of the competition (on the other side, some other outlet loses).
I personally don't have a problem shopping in retail stores for a wide variety of things so long as they're priced reasonably. Unfortunately for brick and mortars, if I find a similar product on Amazon for 40% less on a big ticket item, I'm also not stupid and neither are lots of other consumers. This happens frequently, and, if you're reading, I'm sorry, but it does not cost you a difference of $60 on a $150 item to display it in store and I will still not pay such a difference if you happen to have mildly different SKUs with minor feature differences.
Look at Trader Joe's. Sure, you can buy all that stuff elsewhere but it's cheaper because it's a "house brand." If Target can do this, more power to 'em.
This strategy doesn't have to suck as much as the Sears-branded Atari 2600.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Or it could totally back-fire.
This knife cuts both ways... Yesterday I spent $300 at Best Buy because of "showroom"ing I did on Amazon (products, reviews), youtube (reviews, and video suggestions pointing me at other products oddly enough), and various google results. I planned on going to Target next, but Best Buy had both the items I was interested in.
I bought it at the store for one primary reason: I wanted it on Sunday, not Wednesday. (Note "wanted" not "needed").
I also bought it for a secondary reason: the product in question is audio speakers and I was worried that my primary choice would not have the audio quality I hoped for. At the store I was able to listen to them, determined that indeed I didn't like how they sounded, so I got my second choice. I could have done this all over the Internet, but that would have meant that it would have taken a week to resolve, with ordering, returning, ordering second choice. While I was there I bought a bag that I had also found online and just had not yet ordered, and a cable I needed to go with the speakers.
I'll admit that I mostly shop online. I've come to hate going into the store. Seems like about half the time I go in looking for something specific beyond the "staples", I find out they don't have it period or don't have it in stock. Then I feel like I've wasted gas and (more importantly to me) time hauling ass to the location to not end up getting something. For almost everything I get, I can wait a couple of days to receive it.
Shopping online has many compelling benefits, price is sometimes one of them, but often not THAT much of one. I also get to choose among, everything in the world versus the 2 or 3 choices I may get in a local store. I get to easily see what other people are saying about the different choices, I definitely don't get that in a store. I get to shop whenever is convenient for me, I'd guess that half of what I buy online I buy outside of the hours of 10am-9pm; I can buy it and be done with it rather than queue up a trip to the store to buy it later. Also, I don't have to spend 30+ minutes plus gas driving out to the store, or 10+ minutes if I'm already driving by the store.
Personally, I think the retailers should leverage their locations to get me my shit faster. I almost never buy from Target, Wal-Mart, or Best Buy online. Usually it's Amazon or New Egg. Now, if I could buy something online, and have them have a deal with UPS or have their own couriers bring it by my house the next day, that would be compelling to me. Their brick-and-mortar becomes a mini distribution center, and the products come bulk/freight to the local stores, then use UPS/FedEx/TargetExpress for the "last mile".
I call this "click-and-brick". :-)
I'm with you - the one idea that the big box stores absolutely refuse to contemplate is competing based on _service_ instead of _price_. Most of them already used low prices to kill off the local small stores that provided real service to the shopper and community, now that they're getting creamed by Amazon they suddenly are all about supporting the local store.
You want to be the "local" store, Mr. Big Box Chain? Try some actual service. Stores that make sense, staff that understands the product and wishes to help rather than just upsell warranty packages, "sale" prices that are actually below the normal price that I need less than 2 seconds to find with my phone. Some products I really want to be able to touch and examine with my Mark 1 eyeball, which I just can't do online. Or ask questions in real time, with the product in front of me. Make that happen, make the experience pleasant, and I'll buy from the physical store over the online store if the prices are even close.
Too often I go into a place like Best Buy absolutely intending to buy a specific thing and fail. The stores are laid out to some layout designed to make you walk past as many impulse purchase racks as possible, rather than getting you right to the thing you actually want to buy. The staff isn't judged on whether they are helpful or even friendly - their metrics are all about sales, without teaching them any skills at interaction that might make sales happen. The item might not be in the place it should be, but good luck finding a minion to check the system for where it is, or whether it is out of stock. Forget service, try to go to Best Buy and not get angry.
As long as the brick and mortar guys lose on both sales and service to the online retailers, they're inevitably going to die, unmourned. I acknowledge that they probably can't win on price. How about, just for giggles, trying service, just once?
You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
This really isn't that difficult. If someone is coming into your store and won't buy from you because they can get it elsewhere for cheaper then simply match the price.
Well, duh. They've considered that. They decided not to try to compete on price, which is a smart decision. Competing on price never ends well (Business School 101). You end up sacrificing profits to keep non-loyal customers until the next competitor comes along and then you're all gone.
I don't respond to AC's.
How about a few pointers.
/really/ cost you more to get X than it does for Amazon? Chances are as a major retailer you can get large discounts. Use it to your customers advantage. There should be no reason that even through paying for shipping that something should be 25% less online.
/know/ that you are trying to sell me a more expensive cell phone with LTE but what I really need to know is if there is LTE coverage in my area before I can make that judgement.
1) Tell me if the product is in stock or out of stock for the locations near me. I much prefer to use cash and I don't like waiting for things to be shipped online. However, there are few things I hate more than going into a store to try to find X that their site says they have that happens to be out of stock or that the nearest store with it in stock is 50 miles away. How hard is it to keep products in stock? Electronic companies are the worst, you can apparently pay to take out a major ad saying you have X product for X price but when I ask for it your employees don't know what I'm talking about and it is out of stock. Same thing with brick and mortar cell phone companies, not too long ago I went to get an iPhone with a family member only to find out they were out of the iPhone 4S and the 3GS! Now how bad can your inventory management system be that your flagship phone is out of stock?
2) Sell cheaper products. Does it
3) Service. Train your employees (particularly those in the electronics department) to better serve customers. Know your products and train them to be objective and not salesmen. Yes, I
4) Better product reviews online. Perhaps statistics like product returns, etc. would help because product reviews are thrown into 2 categories, either, this is the best thing I ever bought and works flawlessly or this is a piece of crap. Of course neither is really helpful in knowing whether to buy the product, did the person with a problem get it resolved? Was it particular to that one particular device? Or is it a design problem? Etc.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
There are two Targets near me, and I live in a major US suburban area. Outside either, cell phone reception (Verizon) is excellent. Ten feet inside the store, it drops to one bar and by the time you get very much further, it's NO SERVICE. It is generally impossible to call out or in to a cell phone in Target, or even to send SMS. It has been that way for at least three years, and my wife (who's lived in this part of town longer) says it's been that way as long as she can remember. Other friends say the same thing.
I'm sure Target doesn't have cell phone jammers installed - that would be illegal. But I wonder if they've designed their buildings to be cell-signal-unfriendly? I can imagine it has all sorts of benefits - employees can't covertly text while on duty, and shoppers can't price-compare on the Internet.
I have no proof...just my anecdotal experience.
There is a large Wal-mart supercenter near us, and my Verizon cell works fine throughout, only losing a bar or two in the middle of the store, which is several times the size of Target.
Advice: on VPS providers
Oh,no. Target takes a stand. News flash...stores like these sell re manufactured items and when you go to return the crap half the time you have to contact the manufacturer and RMA it back. Besides,the mouth-breathers that shop at Target (Wal-mart,etc.) don`t have the opposing thumbs needed to use the Internet. These stores need to adapt or die.
This really isn't that difficult. If someone is coming into your store and won't buy from you because they can get it elsewhere for cheaper then simply match the price.
Except that a race to the bottom on pricing is a game the physical retailers will lose every time.
About two years ago, our coffee pot, a nice simple goodlooking Braun that didn't take up a lot of counterspace, broke. here in Boston, one of hte shopping meccas is Route 9 in Framingham - I went out there, and looked at Wal mart, and Target and Sears, and a couple of other stores. The ALL had the same stuff, and although they all had 15 or so different coffee makers on teh shelf, there was no real variety Just 2 or 3 basic models, with lots and lots of minor differences. Vacumn cleaners are even worse; Dyson is like a giant setback to civilization: why on earth would you buy a vacumn with a plastic thing you have to empty, spreading dust everywhere, as opposed to a dispo bag ? You would have to be crazy to buy a vacumn cleaner that doesn't have a throw away bag for the dirt Not to mention all those stupid plastic tailfin equivalents. and in all those stores, nothing like the basic 100 upright with a dispo bag (true story: in the 80s, by upright broke; on going to the store, I was told that Vacumns generate vacumn with a plastic fan blade; in the american models, teh fan is before the filter, so it can shatter if a penny gets sucked up; in the Japanese models, the fan is behind the filter. In my particular model changing the 5$ plastic fan blade was very nearly impossible, due to the snap together construction method) (end of rant)
"Most big mattress chains double a wholesale price and then add some dollars for negotiating room, say local retailers and manufacturers. That means a $500 mattress can jump to $1,399 in the showroom. Typically, they say, big stores will cut those margins by no less than 50 percent for promotions. "
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2012/01/as_mattress_world_closes_its_d.html
Its all fun and games until it enough retailers do it to matter.
Then google & company will differentiate their search engines by creating their own model # interchange DB's. It will be a cat and mouse game keeping the interchanges up to date. And to the winner goes the sale.
Transparent bundling can accomplish their goal. Artificial confusion just creates new markets for the information companies.
They're not going to stop this. A limited number of products that people comparison shop for can be made in store-specific versions (will there be a Target-only version of Madden?)
Why not embrace it, and partner with Amazon? They could even do a location-based search agreement.
They should push their advantages, which is not the product. They don't make Playstations or hair dryers, so to try to make your product your competitive advantage will always fail. They should push their sales focus to things that can't be comparison shopped easily (clothes, food, low cost items). Emphasize the time element (not a Target item, but I frequently buy computer and technology products at retail that I could easily save money at NewEgg on). Take the emotional approach: Make people feel guilty about not paying sales tax that benefits their state and municipality, and point out that buying local = jobs. Focus on ease of returns, and try to make that process easier. Emphasize services. Tell delivery horror stories. Etc, etc... I'm sure any or all of these can be argued down, but the bottom line is, a brick-and-mortar has competitive advantages, but they're not the product they're reselling, and it's not price.
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
like to find some Trail's Best Bacon Jerky, but the company won't respond to email and Wally World never restocks...
however, if i go online, i can find a bottom-feeding vulture opportunist who is selling the jerky for 5X the store price...
Lexus, kenmore, optimus...
It's a common practice for retail establishments to offer "the lowest prices" and achieve it by canging model numbers or rebranding. It is quite desceptive and borderline fraudulent if you ask me.
If a company has a _real_ innovative product, I doubt they would limit themselves to 1 retailer for very long.
It's always delightfully entertaining to see the plebs jockey for position based on which generic big box outlet they shop at, isn't it, my dear? Now, may I trouble you for the monocle wax?
Oh god. Seriously, you guys actually think Target isn't low end? Granted, it's toward the higher end of low end, if that makes sense - it surpasses Kmart, err, the 'Big K' to be sure. But anyone bragging about something they bought at Target is an idiot.
I think everyone is missing a vital point here. If all products are sold at an online store which has lower operating costs, then taken to the extreme, all things equal, brick and mortar stores will fail because even if they match prices, their costs will be higher. This is the argument retailers are making. It only takes one online store to invalidate all retail stores carrying a particular product. Obviously, as time goes on, the amount of "clean" products to sell in brick and mortar stores will go down. This WILL, in all cases, reduce your ability as a customer to see products before you buy. With a lot of commodities it doesn't matter, but with a huge amount it does matter. A handmade purse or jacket might be something that you really want to see in person but if one online store halfway around the world carries it at 10% less, then the brick and mortar store must eventually lose out and you will not be able to see that stuff before you buy it. In the short term you might not notice it, but there is definitely a tipping point where local stores must give up and availability drastically shrinks.
I will bet my life that in products such as these, the overall sales in the long run also decreases when you have online sellers. People are tactile beings and they don't take risks for unique items of significant value if they can't see them first.
If you don't care about seeing things before you buy, then you will get cheaper mass market commodities, you win. If you do care about seeing the things you want before you buy, then you better support a local store or your choice will shrink to only those mass market products.
A) Have a larger selection of products. . . .
B) Don't charge 4 times what I can by it for online, I mean I understand you deserve to make a profit and I am willing to pay the "have to have it RIGHT now" fee . . . . but if it's more than double what online offers, you need to replace your corporate buyers.
The B&M stores want their cake and to eat it as well. Every, and I mean every time, I walk into a store to purchase an item, they don't stock it. And then the (^&^%^%)_(&*()^&*^% salesperson offers to "we'll be glad to order it for you...". Here's a clue for the fucking clueless, if I wanted to order the item online - I would have done so from the comfort of home.. I would not have gotten my ass out in the sub-zero temp, deal with with blowing snow and come into your store to "place an order".
No, the the B&M stores have cut their stock to keep only the cheap, shit, crap items (usually made-in-china junk that has 10000% profit margin) and don't want to stock anything of value.
They deserve exactly what they are getting right now - NONE of my business.
This new strategy of theirs is going fail, it's just prolonging the inevitable complete failure of B&M stores. Amazon will rule the merchandising world (them and Apple). I don't like this outcome, but with the fucking bean counters in complete control of everything, they'll drive every company right into the ground.
I remember stores had their own model number for name brand products. For instance, Packard Bell computers. Several stores would sell the same exact computer, but they would have different model numbers. The reason they did this is so stores like Sears and whoever else was selling it, could say "Lowest price guaranteed!".
When you show them another Packard Bell (or whatever) with the same exact parts (HD, ram, cpu, case styling, etc) for a cheaper price. They would say, "Sorry, that is a different model."
Target sells the Neato XV-12 robotic vacuum. The only differences between the XV-12 and the XV-11 that everyone else sells are:
a) It is called XV-12, not XV-11
b) the case plastics are white.
*yawn*
I don't see how this helps anything. It is well known they they are identical in every way except the color of the plastic. How does Target expect to get any strategic advantage out of this?
I will buy in a brick and mortar store if they are within 10% of online price because I can return easily with no shipping, it's instant gratification to walk out with the item, and I want to keep the local guys in business. I also live in a state with no sales tax, which keeps the price difference lower. I don't have any tolerance for brick and mortar shops that don't have anything in stock though. Hey, if I have to order it and wait AND pay more, then good luck getting my dollar.
Isn't Trader Joe's twice the quality and four times as expensive?
Dyson vacuums... suck?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I wonder how this move will end up interacting with things like Consumer Reports? A lot of value-conscious shoppers read those ratings, and will end up being unable to find the store equivalent model when they punch it into Google Shopping or some other search engine.
I already am wary of going with the Walmart equivalent models, since they often cost-optimize their versions to be a bit cheaper (in both cost and quality).
i agree - B&M stores suck monkey balls lately... went to Wally World looking for a TV wall mount...
"Dude, we haven't had those in stock for four months."
WTF? and there's all these wall-mountable TVs for sale? ROFLMAO!
Brick-and-mortar stores should offer exactly what online retailer's can't:
1) A chance to examine the contents of the box...put em together and make sure they work as advertised...before you walk out the door. This eliminates the my-word-against-his problems like when you buy a phone online and receive a phone box full of floor tiles, and the retailer refuses to send you the money saying you probably put the tiles in after opening it.
2) Better warranties and maintenance service. I built a PC by buying all the parts from newegg, and the experience sucked. First of all, the processor had a 7 day evaluation period that started the day the product shipped. By the time I got it, I had three whole days to build the machine and test it to make sure the processor wasn't faulty, and I couldn't because the case arrived late. And you know what....about a week after I did get it built the machine started randomly shutting off. Eventually, it wouldn't start anymore. Fortunately, the problem turned out to be the motherboard, which had a full thirty days for the eval period, and which newegg swapped out for me (but I had to ship it back at my expense, and WAIT).
3) Anonymity. If you buy a sex toy online, that purchase gets tracked on your credit card and becomes part of your credit profile which is publicly available to anyone willing to pay. There are many things other than sex toys that one would rather not have tracked....for example precariously legal items like salvia divinorum (a hallucinogen that is legal federally and in most states but that might not always be, and that might cause you problems even though legal if someone like your employer or your ex hires an investigator to look up your data online).
4) Affordable to-your-door delivery (rather than UPS who just sticks a note on your door without even knocking), affordable installation, and the ability to talk to the same maintenance tech when a part falls off a few days later.
I am sure there are others too....but these benefits offer far more value than some arbitrary "this version is only available here" nonsense.
Thought I would share this story, it seems approprate.
I went to Home Depot to buy a bath tub (who would buy that from Amazon?) and tried my hardest to get them to help me find the same one I used in a different house. All they had in stock was crap you shouldn't use, but I was willing to pay ahead and wait a couple of weeks. That didn't work for them, they told me to go home and order it online. A quick search online found the tub on Amazon, for $200 less, and FREE shipping.
Now why am I supposed to feel bad for Home Depot? I was almost arguing with the guy to spend money there and they just didn't want it. I either bought acrilic crap tub they had in stock or they didn't want to bother with me.
This has become a common theme for me. People at local stores don't want to be bothered with customers and FREQUENTLY tell me to go home and order from Amazon. I've given up trying to "buy local" because Amazon doesn't act put out or like I'm not worth dealing with.
Is this even really a problem?
I mean don't get me wrong, people have been doing this for 10 years. I used to work retail part time in a Camera shop while in college, and people would come in, check out the camera, and then go buy it online. (Usually Chinese people... I guess they were ahead of the curve)
They didn't have smart phones then, and now they do - but so what? I even have some of the apps that will scan a bar-code and tell me the prices on the local online retailers (rakuten, Amazon Japan, etc) - but that doesn't mean that the local stores automatically lose out.
1. Sometimes I want something *now*. Getting main can be a pain. You have to be home at the correct time, etc. /that/ much, so the prices in the store shouldn't be drastically higher than Amazon or other online retailers. If they are, then they need to work on their efficiency.
2. Some products you want to see in person, touch/feel. Buying RAM online might be fine, but clothes, etc., you want to look at in person, and possibly even try on. Once you go all the way to the store to check something out in person, you'll probably buy it there unless the store is really overpriced, or you are a super cheap-ass. You might order "refills" online.
3. Sometimes you will search online to find out what you want, and then buy it in person at a local store! I know, crazy, right? I have done this a lot, and I can't tell you how many times brick and morter stores have lost my business simply by not carrying a wide enough selection. I have looked up a computer online, and gone to the local "Computer superstores", only to find they didn't have it because it was slightly odd-ball. So much for "SuperStore". My favorite thing is when they tell me "We can order it for you". Yeah, thanks, I can order it for myself.
4. The overhead for running a physical store shouldn't be
5. Using "special" products won't work, because for one thing, people will just built tables of equivalent part numbers if at all possible.
6. If stores like Target are worried about online stores taking over, they can just build their own online store, so they get part of the action!!!
The point is, retail isn't likely to be going anywhere, because not all things are suitable for purchase online just by looking at a JPEG file. Places like Target can compete with Amazon online if they want to as well, so they should work on strategies that won'T irritate the customer.
as long as they aren't looking on Ebay UK .. where prices are too high already, and are rising. go figure.. recession my ass. greed - definately.
I will just buy it direct from your chinese distributor either your brand or a knock off.
You see all of this push to move manufacturing off shore is starting to bite back. The wheels are already in motion, why should I even pay a US middle man when I can buy direct from his source.
Got Code?
I *do* shop at shops.... But I also check prices online - because if I find that I'm being gypped at 30% markup from the average internet price, then I'll look someplace else thank-you-very-much.
Also I don't usually buy "store brand" items unless it's got a proven record and good reviews. If I can't compare the price then I will find something else.
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
...How about some retailers -- especially so-called "specialty" retailers -- actually keep some products in stock for people to buy? It's becoming ever more common now that "this 'online thing' is the hot new fad" that physical retailers don't actually have any of the items I'm looking for available to sell to me. The story is, "well, that's an online only item so we can ORDER it and have it shipped to the store by next week..."
If I wanted to order whatever item, I could order it my damn self. The reason I didn't order it in the first place is because I want or need it now. This is especially a problem with things like computer parts, connectors, and cables -- Things that aren't just some shiny tech object I want to have in my hands right now, but stuff I need to actually fix somebody's computer. I also have big problems with this with outdoor and camping equipment, and sometimes auto parts. Ordering in the product doesn't help me when there's a hole in my tent or the car's in pieces in the driveway.
Moreover, some places' websites are getting better about listing which items actually exist in their stores for you to buy (Target) but others are absolutely terrible in this regard (Sears, Kmart), and extra special hateful mention goes to Wal Mart, who have taken a step backwards and made it MORE difficult to use their site to figure out what items are online only or in stock in a store when you USED to be able to do so easily. (It also doesn't help that they removed SKU and UPC numbers from their website in the wake of the old barcoding scandal in the midwest last year or so, even though this information was often the only way to make select clueless Wal Mart employees reliably go in the stockroom and find the item you want which was inexplicably never put on the shelf.)
In many cases, I will happily pay a little bit more to A) have the gizmo, part, or repair item now, rather than next week, and B) have someplace to return it to without having to pay shipping, jump through the Flaming Hoops of RMA, and wait another two weeks if the item turns out to be FUBAR. I already refuse to buy hard drives mail-order from anyone, as it is such a pain in the ass to get the online retailer to authorize a return and cough up a working one when just one drive out of the batch is invariably dead on arrival. The computer parts chain stores around here will price match reputable online retailers on hard drive prices if the prices aren't identical anyway, so the difference is moot.
While I'm complaining, the final insult perpetrated by big box retailers that drives me nuts is putting away "seasonal" merchandise or, more commonly, sending it back to the distribution warehouse when they decide you don't "need" to buy it. Okay, I can understand the need to use seasonal shelf space for movers like Christmas items and so forth, and having worked in hardware store retail for years and years I had to do similar things. But in our case we put the current seasonal stuff in the prominent shelf location and just moved the out-of-season merchandise to a less prominent spot and probably shelf it in a much more compact/less appealing manner (to save space) because invariably someone wants to buy a heater in July or, (as I tried to do just a few days ago) buy a garden hose reel in January. I can, of course, buy either of these items any damn time of the year online if I want to pay to have a hose reel or whatever shipped to my door. I once had Target REFUSE to sell me a fan in the wintertime even though they had one in stock in the stockroom according to their point-of-sale system because it was "out of season" and might "complicate their inventory." I didn't need the fan to keep cool in February; I needed it for ventilation.
If retailers want online places to stop eating their lunch they need to get their collective shit together, not make up new and useless private label products. Private label products already exist, and already suffer from the phenomenon that's going to shoot this initiative full of holes wherein whoeve
This is a stupid idea. The fundmental problem here is that a large fraction (85%+) of the items sold in a store like Target *are* effectively consumer commodities. They can't change that with stupid gimmicks, and they can't compete with online retailers' cheaper commodity sales models. The bottom line is: selling commodities in a brick-and-mortar store is an outmoded business model, it can never be efficient enough anymore. If you want to be in the brick and mortar business, you need to sell something that isn't a commodity (commodities with varying UPC labels and cutesy red Target emblems don't count).
The whole retail window-shopping thing is a much more real and valid problem for large non-commodity purchases (e.g. window shoppers at Best Buy, buying TVs online. Or cars, same thing). I don't know what the right answer would have been for Best Buy back when they could have fixed this. Perhaps sign marketing deals with the e-tailers to acts as their showroom intentionally? That or give up and fold and if there's a real desire for in-person demos, let some new model spring up to cover that need.
Best Buy has figured this out recently and got my business when I was shopping for a DSLR last year. I set up a package deal with camera, lenses, bag, SD card, etc. for about 3% more than the best NYC camera shop deal and I could pick my stuff up locally (and return it locally if necessary) and I didn't have to worry about getting grey-market stuff. Worked well for both parties. The comfort level of buying camera gear locally was worth the slight extra cost. They made a bit of money and got me to recommend them to people who I think will be capable of bargaining without getting suckered into buying Monster Cables and other overpriced add-ons.
I think they've realized that it's better to make $50 on a thousand dollar deal than have that profit walk out the door.
How is this different than the millions of consumers that mercilessly browse a website only to buy the item in store because it's in town. I do that all the time when I want an item right away. As long as the brick and mortar is within 10%, then it's a wash due to shipping costs and waiting for delivery. Sorry, but costs money to run a business and people don't have to buy at your store. If they don't like it then I suppose they could just turn their stores into warehouses, forget the displays, and put up a web presence so that people can view items.
Amazon floods the screen with as many "similar" products and "other things you might like" pitches as they can. Not only do they try to sell you things you don't ask about, they try to sell you things from sellers you didn't expressly visit.
If Amazon isn't just as highly a manipulated shopping experience as the average grocery store, its only because they are still working out the kinks.
I walk in to Target... They try to sell me a 40in Sony TV made exclusively for Target. The difference being that it has 3 HDMI instead of 4, crappier speakers, and a couple other minor differences... I look on my phone in the store and I can't find that model, it's only at Target. So what's next? I buy it? No, I look for compatible Sony TV's and buy the non-exclusive off amazon for 100 dollars cheaper. Unless they are going the way of Costco, and selling exclusive products with more features for cheaper (like my Roomba, Keurig, stuff like that), this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
They scientifically designed the stores to keep you there longer and waste your time.
They eliminated all inventory.
They only have 1 checkout isle open.
They constantly advertise products they don't have in stock and then try to sell you last year's model at 20% more when you get there.
They always push overpriced cables.
They always push rip-off insurance.
The staff there doesn't know anything about anything.
Most of the major retailers consume community resources like fire, police and road traffic but actually get huge tax credits from the local government to locate there.
When the huge chains crushed the independent stores they claimed it was just the free market but when Amazon crushes them they cry.
I have 0 sympathy for mega-stores.
When 3D printers become common, all the plastic retailers will be wiped out anyway.
It seems like every time I'm shopping for a TV or other electronic component I have to deal with the fact that Best Buy, Fry's, Target, and five other retailers already have "different" versions of what I want. Is the KDL32EX520 the same as the KDL32EX523? Or is it the same as the KDL32EX52ba, which I read a great review for on CNet? Oh wait, KMart has a KDL32HX520 for $100 cheaper. But is that the same model, or does it have the cheaper version of the back-light from Taiwan that is more likely to fail?
It's just going to get tougher if they succeed.
I applaud them having their own lines of clothes, pottery, dog collars, and linens if that helps differentiate them. But I'd like to read a couple trusted reviews before I drop $1000 on a TV, and if I can't find a review of that KDL32EM521 you have in your store, I'm going elsewhere. I don't mind driving to a couple places before spending a bundle.
I agree fully with the between-the-lines message here: like Big Content, the bricks-and-mortar-store's business model is finished. They need a new one. I can see two: One is that the manufactures should start paying B&M stores to market their products. It already happens in supermarkets: Coke pays supermarkets huge amounts to get those end-of-isle promotion spots, and the same happens on the ordinary shelves: If you don't pay, you'll end up with 6 inches near the ceiling or by your feet. Those 12 feet of John West Tuna cans you see at eye level? John West paid for that. Quite a bit, too.
The second is travelling road-shows. Outside of major cities, we will have Samsung or Hewlett Packard sending out a fitted-out semi with displays, listening rooms, and well-clued-up salespersons, all set up to allow customers to touch and see their products. They'll have a headline act like a huge 3D screen showing a recent release film or something - flavour of the circus here - and all ready to take your order with fast shipping if something takes your fancy, or give you a mouse mat with their online store's address.
Will B&M adapt, or try to stop the world instead? Only one of those options will work, and it doesn't involve 'earth-moving equipment'.
Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
Time to develop a "find prices for similar items" app.
It's about priority. I'll pay some more locally to have "it" today, but there is a cut off. I was looking at some WARN lights on the shelf of a local shop while I waited for an estimate, I looked the lights up at Amazon and they were 1/2 as much. ($349.99 at Alaska Spring and $119.00 on Amazon). I am sorry, I am not that loyal.
They come in the dark, only in the darkest.
Doesn't Target have a website where they sell items? Are these exclusive products not going to be sold there?
Guess those platform marketing whizzes from Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadilac and Chevrolet-Pontiac may have futures in retail aferall! They can specify which parts should be pantone target 'red', pantone target 'white' and how much extra to charge for the one with the 10 atom thick chrome plate, then move on to where the draw the line pricing divisions between the target edition music player that doesn't support AAC formats and the one that does!
"The paradox of choice" - I too have buyer's paralysis. I make a database of overy known option, mark them 'deleted' one by one, and eventually come up with at least 20 alternatives which would be as good as any other. Typically there will be features I don't know I want until I start using it.
And that's when I realized I could go to the library and read up using Consumer Reports and be done with it. It's well worth it, if you buy a major appliance every year (tv one year, bed, replacement microwave, computer) - especially for things you don't already have.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice:_Why_More_Is_Less
Isn't it just easier to make Target only SKU numbers and/or bar codes?
"Showrooming" can be used against online retailers by brick and mortar shops. They just haven't realized it. You simply go the opposite direction: stock your store with 1 model and maybe 1 or 2 units of inventory, then only offer to sell it by order. In the process you would reorganize your inventory and supply chain to support a centralized warehouse with reduced store inventories. Stores would only carry high volume units. Low volume items would generally only have display units. You offer a competitive "online" price on these items.
You would eventually beat the online retailers at their own game: customers would come into your "showroom" because they have tangible access to the products and likely pay a small markup because they can be sure they placed the order on the right product.
If the customer really must have the product in their hands at that exact moment, then you offer to sell it at that price, but charge an "expedite" fee. Now they get both options from you: slightly higher price for paying for inventory on site, or reduced warehouse price with delayed delivery.
Big retail chains need to realize what has happened. Customers didn't just say they wanted the cheapest price. They also said "I'm willing to wait a few days on my purchase if you knock the price down a bit." The big retailers need to realize how to take advantage of that and the fact that they have "showrooms".
Now that you mention it, my mom still reads Consumer Reports -- I should just ask her! (Of course, she has an advanced technical degree and makes twice the money that I do, so it figures that she landed on the sensible solution already. . .)
I remember back in 2008 when I went to the apple store in my local mall and saw an external hard drive. Of course it was over priced since it was in the apple store, so I instead used one of the showroom macs to purchase a WD 2TB external HDD from new-egg. It did not matter that what what apple was selling was "unique" or of "higher quality".
I always look for reviews of a product before buying. If the product does not contain the exact number and version that is listed in the reviews I ignore it. Also, I dont accept whatever review there is neither - I will ignore reviews I dont deem neutral. I can tell you it is usually very dificult to find the products that actually get the good score - Try finding the shavers listed in the reviews arround! You will hardly ever find them - it looks like they only want the brand itself to win, but wont sell top items anywhere regardless if it is Braun, Phillips or whatever. I often end up buying online for that very reason, retail stores keep shooting themselves in the foot by not using the very version numbers winning the tests, being computers, shavers, or whatever.
Wal-Mart started this practice many years ago. All of the high-volume retailers do it now. Typically, the exclusive SKU will have a slightly reduced set of features, for the same or lower price as the "equivalent" from the same manufacturer through Amazon. The customer is less likely to leave the store and order on-line, and wait for shipping, just to get a couple of features that he or she might not need, anyway.
There are walmart only SKU's for TV's and items to avoid having to "price match" Best Buy does this as well. Luckily, red Laser is wise to this and will show you the other SKU's for the exact same TV set.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Retail used to have a 6% "shrinkage" problem, I assume it's still about the same. Hard to know precise numbers of what's on the shelf beyond the 6% uncertainty.
This is called brand building in essense. P&G, Johnson, and etc... had been doing this for a long while.
I try to buy clothes in an actual store. Lately, I've found that the stores simply choose not to carry my pant size anymore. Sears actually puts up a sign telling customers which sizes are online only. Hey Sears, if you are telling me to go online then why would I get it from your online store and not one of the others that has it cheaper? No wonder some of these places are hurting so bad.
Mega factories... one of them focuses on Coca-Cola. One canning factory in the US and a bottling plant in Italy. The canning factory is run by less then a dozen people who put out about 1 million cans per person during a shift. That is a LOT of manufacturing but not a lot of jobs. Somewhere a lot of money is being earned but this massive factory is not keeping an entire city fed through job creation.
Meanwhile the Italian plant is very inefficient, far more workers in every shot... it still makes a profit and at the end of the shift more workers take a pay-packet home to their family.
So... how do you count manufacturing power? For that matter, where does a Dell computer count as being manufactured?
Statistics are great ways for lying. If 99% of a product is made in China and then 1% of combining the parts is done in the US, statistics tend to claim the entire product as being produced in the US. Car makers have used this to avoid tariffs for a long time but it is just statistical bullshit.
Yes, a lot of stuff is still made in the US and the west, stuff like shampoo and toothpaste because moving a factory that is making a profit often makes no sense and such low value items don't justify shipping. But they are highly automated and just don't employ enough people.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
So I can occasionally save 50 cents on something that I have to order online and wait to show up at my house rather than pulling it off the shelf right in front of me and buying it right then.
Target, this is a terrible strategy. If someone actually shows up at Target, odds are they're going to buy something. You're not Best Buy. While you do stock a few 'big ticket items', I can't imagine that of those big ticket items they're (1) unique to you (2) available at a much better price anywhere else.
Stick to what you do good. Garbage bags, low thread count bed sheets, towels and plastic bins. I'll always buy those in store because I have set the bar as low as it can go.
It's not going to be hard for people to find the non-Target branded merchandise, if they're really insistent on using Target as a showroom and shopping online. To be honest, I haven't really heard of this being a massive issue to begin with.
All this tells me is Target sets their prices high and instead of fighting for customers like every other store does, they're trying to shoehorn people into buying at their bloated prices. No thanks, Target.
Oh yeah, this isn't the consumer electronics or entertainment industry, this is retail. They still usually compete with each other by strong-arming suppliers, eliminating competing mom and pop shops, short-changing local dealers in favor of products produced by slaver-labor overseas, and offering better products and services, rather than suing each other into oblivion. When will they ever learn, it's just easier to pay-off judges and senators.
I got 99 problems but the supplier ain't one.
If I were to look at the model number, and discover that it's one-off from what I find at real stores online, I'd put it down and walk out of the store. The one retailer that is most famous for this tactic is WalMart, and their "exclusive" items are all trash that's made to be cheaper than otherwise possible. If target goes that route, I'll have to stop shopping there; I wouldn't be able to trust the merchandise.
Here's why I choose local over online: if it weighs over 10 pounds. UPS, Fedex, and the USPS will pepper spray you and kick you in the nuts in pricing shipping for an item like that. So they could simply carry only items that weigh a lot.
This has been going on for decades. House brands of "white goods" appliances have been around since at least the 1960s. VHS players were amusing; there were only five different VHS mechanisms, but hundreds of plastic bezels.
Frank-Lin Distillers Products in San Jose, which makes most of the bottom-shelf booze on the West Coast, takes in ethanol in tank cars, tap water, and flavoring, and turns out about 1000 differently labeled liquor products. They only have about 100 different recipes, and an advanced automated bottling line that can change bottle types and labels without a shutdown.
I expect this to backfire for 2 reasons:
1. Store brand products are usually crap. Anyone who goes searching online is going to instantly realize that it's a store specific product, with potentially iffy support and take a pass.
2. Smart phones are becoming common. More and more of us are reading reviews of products as we shop... In fact, I usually check amazon just for the reviews, and buy locally. No online reviews, no purchase.
I've used the Target website recently to check for specific product stock at local stores and found it very helpful. I don't know if every product is tracked, but they're definitely allowing visitors to check stock for certain items. When I found the product I wanted (inventory showed one left in stock), I just called the store to double-check - they put the unit aside for me and it was waiting when I got there. Very straightforward and easy.
unless the product is totally unique. As in no similar products anywhere. I could care less, as I don't shop at target.
I research products that I am interested in online. If I can see the product locally thats cool. If the price difference between local and online is not too much (say within $10.00 on a $100.00 item) after taxes/shipping are accounted for, I may buy locally. With any bigger price difference, I have to go with best price.
And to me, a $100 purchase is not something I can do very often even for necessities these days.
I very rarely go to a store unless I plan to buy something there. I don't come in to a store to look at something and buy it online. I do almost all of my shopping online, I look at reviews, specs, etc. and decide what to buy. Sometimes (if a local store has it in stock at a reasonable price) I buy it in a store. Most of the time I order it. If Target starts stocking 'exclusive' products, well, I'll never see them. There are a few things I know Target stocks, and I buy that there. Aside from that, they have no information about what's in stock at a local store, so I can't buy anything there (I don't go searching from store to store to find something, if I can't see that it's in stock nearby, I buy it online).
If Target wants more business they need to focus on three things:
1) Provide information on local prices and inventory.
2) Sell items that people are more likely to want *today*.
3) Don't waste shelf space on something that's much cheaper online unless the consumer won't be willing to wait a day or two for it.
The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
This mode of business is how the mattress industry has worked for years. Ever wonder why they can continually advertise they won't be undersold. It is because each chain has their own versions with their own parts numbers. You can't find the same mattress at another companies stores. Well you can. They will be identical in all respects except a stitch or something equally minor, and of course the model name and number. And people are dumb enough that it works at least 70 or 80% of the time. So there is precedent for this to work as well.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Target's unique Target-specific products -clearly- allow me to set Target apart from all other vendors...
1. Target - from which, I'll NEVER buy, ever again... AND
2. Target's competitors - from which, I -might- buy from,,,
(In fact, those competitors now have a slightly HIGHER chance of selling to me, than they did -before- today) ;-)
What if Amazon writes the same suppliers to create unique models not available in brick and mortar stores? Who are the manufacturers going to listen to. Target, or Amazon? I guess they'll either give both their way, or go with the biggest seller, which most likely, won't be Target.
The big deal with this used to be that you can't get service for your purchase through any other channel than the shop you bought it in. That sales model used to work long ago, but people tend to want to be able to get service for their product anywhere these days. Going for unique items that are basically badged "white label" products with a fancy brand name on them will bite them. Wouldn't you rather spend a little bit more money to get an equivalent model of your purchase that can be serviced anywhere? As long as it's not something you're unlikely to ever have to return, like underwear or breakfast cereal, you most likely would choose the name brand if you can afford it.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
So, when I was a teen... There was a cool all-mode, 25 watt, 10 meter (28 - 29.7 MHz) Amateur Radio transceiver for the car (it was about the size of a 5 watt mobile 27 MHz CB radio, but with lots more features, for the neighboring Ham band.
In its original version (presumably, under its maker's name), "all-mode" meant: CW + LSB + USB + AM (and -maybe- FM?)
In its Radio Shack version, some of those modes were no longer included (nor could they be added, later).
It didn't work for us, back then... and it doesn't work for us now...
So, we'll just respond now, just like we did then: Vote with our WALLETS... :-)
This sounds a lot like Toys R Us vs the FTC
The web is faster, better, more convinient and better value for money for shopping most anything. We are increasingly buying everything online and will pay for freight instead of paying for people in a shop + distribution and shop space rent etc.
The loosers here are the producers, who will have a harder time showing off their products without traditional shops. And will have to resolve to showrooms. Sony is already doing this for their gadgetry (You may like or dislike Sony for other reasons) here in Denmark. There are Sony "shops" that basically don't sell anything yet is staffed with friendly personel and a large varaity of everything Sony produces to the consumer market. The shop asistants will even tell you where you find trusted dealers online for their stuff if you are novice into internet shopping. This is the future of shopping.
I guess, like the record industry, the retail industry will try and force arcane laws in order to keep in business after they are no longer needed, probably going to start suing people who uses smartphones inside the shop or make "forced buying" like some craft-shops here also do (A well known flourist, you pay to enter the shop or as they call it "showroom", the entry fee is then subtracted from anything you buy)
It isn't 1960 anymore.
Target doesn't need to worry about me. I don't have a smart phone yet because the calling plans are so differentiated I can't even begin to compare them with each other.
Anyway, the discount chains have already done this for decades so they could always "match" the lowest prices of their competitors. Doesn't work very well. All you get is a market that differentiates on one thing only, price, because differentiating on other factors is too complicated or impossible. You'd think there be an app for this. (hint to app writers, if I don't use or care about text messaging or whatever, I want to be able to eliminated it for comparison purposes).
walmart has been doing Target-exclusive products and it means nothing more than get a model number specially for walmart. TV model 100 is call a 102 when sold to walmart and model 103 when sold to target. Its still a model 100 in every shape and form, but you can price compare because its a different model and they will not price match because its a different model.......
One advantage of brick-and-mortar stores is that if you want something *today*, or want to look at the darn thing in person first, and *then* get it today, they have an incredible edge over online retailers. Not everyone wants to drive to a store, look at something, and then go off and find another place to get it, and then wait for it to arrive.
Honestly, I'm surprised you can't log in online to more stores, place an online reservation a product to pickup today (with a limited reservation window), and by the time you arrive the salesperson has exactly what you want, and a good idea as to what they might be able to upsell you on. They could very well be stealing business from online stores by pushing the "do you want it now?" angle. I'm not sure why they don't.
Service is dead though. Most of the staff in such stores aren't paid enough any more to give a damn beyond selling you the product with the highest commission, and it means that anyone with any sense steps inside the store already filled with skepticism. The only thing that seems to be remaining in that area (IMHO) is competing on return policies. If a place has a good return policy and you want a working product ASAP, it can be worth paying extra to get the thing you want, knowing that you won't be waiting for four weeks on an RMA if it's broken.
Buggy whip manufacturers plan to strike back at autos by pushing the "back to nature" angle.
does this too. I always assumed it was for them to spout 'if you can find a lower price, we'll match it' horseshit without fear of ever having to pony up.
AD: "the retail chains' worst nightmare are consumers who come in to take a look at merchandise in-store, but use smartphone apps to shop for cheaper prices online." One wouldn't believe what a price disparity one can find within 10 square meters of any concentration of sexshops like those in Amsterdam. Like 40% difference in their sticker prices between two neighbouring shops.
Instead of just complaining, lol.
I don't know why company's don't have fixed pricing. I hate the example, but this is what Bose does. I think a handful of SLR camarea and lens makers also do this.
It's not for everything but anything of the showroom view, buy online and save model should consider such a model. even if it requires gov't regulation.
Target has an online store as well. How is it any different for them to compete with physical stoers in-store then it is for their online store to compete with other online stores? If they don't try to adapt and compete in the online market instead of just trying to beef up the in-store market they are going to fail. It will be like movie rental places that didn't adopt to online streaming.
cameltoe
TTIWWP.
Just sayin'.
I won't even bother driving to a store unless I can check inventory status online. It is not worth the time and fuel cost just to wander around the store for 30 mins and not find what I need.
As a bonus it makes it impossible to comparison shop. And makes any guarantees about finding it for less elsewhere meaningless. Yes, that item was $15 at Wal-Mart, but what we're selling for $20 at Target is entirely different.
You're value is immediacy and customer service.
Focus on those. If you have a trained person engage with shopper and talk to them, the shopper is more likely to buy from you. Any specialty items will simple not be bought in the volume to make it feasible.
Seriously, how much lower then target prices can you actually get?
Signed,
A. Shopper
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
This will work for a few weeks before people simply look up the equivalent part numbers. Sears tried this already. It sucked, made headaches, and didn't help the problem at all.
If all they try to do is use different part numbers for the same product, it's obvious how it will work out (won't).
Their only Strengths are anything requiring a physical presence (immediate gratification, in-store trial, service/repair, dealing with old people). There are lots of Weaknesses and Threats: inventory, pricing, and the fact that anything that can be duplicated will be sold online for others, and for cheap..
This is a rather straightforward, if ultimately hopeless, attempt to mitigate the Threat by creating unique products that, because they are unique to their store, can't be sold online. Just a protectionist use of trademark.
One Opportunity I haven't seen tried out at a large scale is a model where "in-store trials" are financed even absent an actual sale. For example, let people come in and play with all of your laptops/tablets/cell phones, etc., but charge directly for the access (e.g., $5 for a day pass, applied toward any purchase made, with monthly/annual plans or whatever). Let people browse and physically touch things they might be interested, and if they like it, they're free to buy it wherever they want (e.g., online). With all of the consumer clutter, they could even be providing a new service - curation - to help people find the best available products.
If I read this optimistically it sounds like I'll see some unique stuff in Target. Good. Sounds like they're doing what any halfway intelligent retailer would. On the other hand, slight differences accompanied by different model numbers has been done before, and just annoys savvy shoppers. It simply says "we think we're smarter than you." Consumers WILL create, find, and/or access crosswalk listings online to enable price comparisons between almost identical products. Circuit City notoriously did this because they had a "find it cheaper elsewhere and we'll give you 10% less here" policy. So if no one else had the same model number products, they never had to fulfill that promise.
Wow, I cannot believe that I am still hearing about corporations whining about their lessening profits. Are you really going to try another way to fuck over the American public? If I had good wages then maybe I wouldn't have to spend hours to comparison shop for deals. Survival and LEARNING FROM YOU since you also comparison shop...OUTSOURCING/ HIRE PART TIME SO THAT YOU DON'T PAY ANY HEALTHCARE OR EXTRA MONEY TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE, then fire at will since all of us are looking for jobs now. Corporations in the US are ADDICTS. If you look for a moment at the landscape, you will see that your customers have been losing their homes, going through divorce, going bankrupt, living with family, unemployed, uninsured. Do some creative thinking for once and create a sustainable business model. Take a lesson from Apple. They've got plenty of money because: their products are gorgeous, work and are a lot more innovative. The bulk of the $200-$1500 I'm saving will go to the companies that deserve my money.
Look at Aldi in the supermarket game. No price matching on anything and a great price all year round!
That's because you think "service" is synonymous with bullshit agendas.
Here's a tip: service comes from the same root as "to serve", and "subservience".
Here's another tip: stores about about distributing goods from central hubs to those who need goods, as efficiently and practically as possible. They're not about making store owners rich, or building brand names. "Efficiently" means cheap and without fus, not with added bullshit agendas. "Practically" means getting people the goods they WANT -- i.e., the ones they're currently buying online because stores refuse to stock a modern, flexible range.
Seriously. At the minute, any individual can do a better job of finding and ordering what he needs, than any local store (read: distribution outlet) can do for him, despite those store workers being "specialists", and despite those stores having potentially huge economies of scale.
What's wrong with this picture?
Well they are working for your competition and kicking your ass no matter what product you got.
The only way for brick-and-mortars to compete against the internet is to specialize and sell their own brands, manufactured in Asia of course.
Yah, I shop! Wana fight about it? I use my phone to find better prices sure. However, I also use "brick-&-mortar" establishments to satisfy my NEED to have things NOW, and not wait for shipping! If they would market that fact of the B&M establishment, then they would do fine. They just want to ruin, what has become an ideal and liberal shopping experience. If anything that will just make me want to use online markets MORE, and abandon Target and any other B&M establishment. If they can't compete without changing the rules then they can't compete. Best-Buy already does this, many of their TV, and Stereo models are one letter, or digit different form what everyone else has, technically making them "different" but they are the same thing. Target would and others would be better served to gain product release "exclusives" where they are allowed to release products weeks or months before other retailers, online or not. So like when the first Sony Crystal LEDs come out they give a special exclusive to say, Target, where certain sizes, or feature sets are available there for an exclusive period. Releasing those models to other retailers a week or two later. Absolute product exclusivity isn't necessarily valuable, obviously millions of people just didn't buy iPhones till they came to their carriers. For millions of people AT&T exclusivity meant just not having an iPhone, not switching carriers. It would be the same with Target, people will just find some other similar product that is cheaper. Exclusive models/feature just isn't the answer. Banking on the desire for instant-gratification is the way to compete, it is something online retailers CAN NOT COMPETE WITH.