'Net Features : brick and mortar

The Retailer with the Highest Showrooming Risk Is…

Allison Howen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:55:00 GMT

The momentum of mobile has made showrooming a growing threat to brick-and-mortar retailers. A new study, however, reveals that some retailers are at higher risk than others.

The Aisle to Amazon study from location analytics company Placed unsurprisingly identified Best Buy and Target as high-risk retailers when it comes to consumers viewing products offline and then making purchases online. That being said, Best Buy and Target are actually not the most at risk when it comes to showrooming. In fact, Bed Bath & Beyond, PetSmart and Toys ‘R’ Us all face greater risk, with Amazon shoppers being 27 percent more likely to visit Bed Bath & Beyond, 25 percent more likely to visit PetSmart and 21 percent more likely to visit Toys ‘R’ Us before making a purchase online.

“Amazon was the clear winner in e-commerce 1.0, and unless brick-and-mortar retailers shift from reactive to proactive, Amazon will win e-commerce 2.0 on the backs of offline retailers,” said David Shim, Founder and CEO at Placed. "All the attention to date has been on Target and Best Buy as the early victims of showrooming, but significantly more retailers are at risk. Retailers need to know that it’s not a question of if or when showrooming will impact their business, as an aisle to Amazon is already in their store.”

In an attempt to combat showrooming, both Best Buy and Target recently announced Amazon price-matching policies, but this isn’t the only way that brick-and-mortar retailers can combat Amazon shoppers. Other strategies include:

1. Selling exclusive products – retailers can take Amazon out of the equation by selling customizable products or products that are exclusive to their brand or a brick-and-mortar location.

2. Integrating online features offline – If consumers are already shopping in-stores with their mobile phones, why not make the process easier? One way merchants can do this is by posting QR codes next to items that will take consumers to product reviews when scanned. Moreover, merchants can launch location-based promotions on platforms like Foursquare, such as a coupon for 25 percent off an in-store purchase when someone checks-in. This allows consumers to participate with mobile, while also giving them an incentive to make an immediate purchase.

3. Maintaining great service – One of the biggest advantages brick-and-mortar merchants have over online retailers is their ability to provide excellent service to any customer that walks through the door. This is why merchants should make sure that every member on their staff has a good attitude and is educated about the products and services that are being sold.

Improve Customer Experience One Location at a Time

Michael Garrity — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Working with customers can be difficult, and no one knows this more than location managers who often have to act as mediators between a company and its patrons.

That's why it is always nice to have a little help, which is what makes customer experience management (CEM) solutions so useful.

Empathica delivers solutions to over 200 major brands. The company is looking to go a step further now with the launch of Empathica Local, a new CEM product designed to help location managers provide positive and consistent customer experiences at their brick-and-mortar locations.

Empathica Local is built for brands that run multiple locations, such as restaurants, grocery stores, banks and retail locations, to help them find insights on what aspects of their operations can be changed to improve customer experiences and provide actionable plans and best practices to achieve that goal for each specific location.

Moreover, the product is intentionally designed to provide a simple interface that eliminates the need to drudge through multi-layered, complex reports, allowing location managers to focus on the most important local issues by defining what needs to be fixed and how that can be accomplished. It achieves this end by leveraging patent-pending prescriptive reporting technologies to set focus areas.

Empathica Local was built to meet the day-to-day needs of location managers and helps them by providing not only a user-friendly interface, but also location-specific focus, editable action plans, social sharing of best practices, status monitoring and performance insights. In the end, the tool will not only provide insights and information but also strategies crafted around a particular location’s unique needs to help managers improve their customers’ experiences and maintain that level of quality.

New York Businesses Cozy Up to Foursquare

Mike Phillips — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:30:00 GMT

Add New York magazine to the growing list of businesses in The Big Apple who are taking advantage of Foursquare; joining The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Time Out New York.

These publications have partnered with Foursquare to distribute news and editorial content to users when they "check in" using the social location sharing service. So, a user might check in at a local restaurant or pub then have the option to read any related editorial content from one of the partnering publications. It's another value-add to the rapidly-growing service.

For New York-based businesses, this is a good reason to spend a little time optimizing your Foursquare account - including coupons, special offers or freebies for users who check in and "mayors" of the location.

You can expect more of these types of partnerships in the weeks and months to come, far beyond New York. All businesses - particularly brick and mortar - should have Foursquare in mind. Read more about marketing your business on Foursquare, from the August 2010 issue of Website Magazine.