Have you ever walked into a store – looking for a pair of shoes, headphones or a microwave oven – and popped out your smartphone to compare the prices online? Well, I have started doing that way too often – experience offline, research and buy online.
My friend Annkur, who runs PriceBaba.com targets customers who research online and buy offline. But that doesn’t work for me, much. However, the fact that he’s doing well for himself shows that there are enough people who choose this route!
I am a fan of Tom Fishburne’s marketoons and earlier this year, he published one titled – Showrooming.
That’s exactly how I am when it comes to experiencing retail. I know it’s sad, but I look at it in a different way. It’s an evolution and retailers need to address this in a better way – offer a better experience offline, if not a better price. More than anything else it’s a marketing problem!
In India, it’s very rare that the in-store experience is good enough to swipe my card at the store, unless of course there is a dire sense of urgency, or a better price available (which is rare). For a lot of things including electronics, clothes, groceries and books (for gifts, I use a Kindle for myself – I prefer to shop online. The reason are pretty straightforward – better pricing, great return policy (esp. with Myntra and Flipkart) and convenience of ordering it online.
Additionally, one great thing about online shopping is the availability of discount coupons. I usually find them at one of the coupon sites. Recently, I tried Flipit for recharging a mobile connection on Paytm and I liked their interface. In the past, I got some good discount coupons for eBay on CouponDunia. There are bunch of such sites that let you save an additional 5-15% when you use the coupon.
Having said that, I still prefer to buy a Bose or an Apple product off the stores (In India, they’re apple retailers, not official stores but still!) – just because I like experiencing these products at the store and it’s difficult to resist the urge of walking out of the store with the product I am sold on. Ordering it online and waiting for another 2-3 days to get it is a clear no in such cases.
On a related note, here’s a nice deck on The Zero Moment of Truth –
It’ll be an interesting trend to watch how offline stores save themselves from showrooming. What’s your take on that?