By Ryan Dee, Interactions
“Will ‘showrooming’ kill
businesses?” That was the headline five years ago as an increasing number of
shoppers began visiting brick-and-mortar stores to try out products before
ultimately purchasing them online. Back then, the ability to price shop in person
but buy online was a real concern for brick-and-mortar stores. But as a growing
number of traditional retailers are proving, not only will showrooming not be
their death, it may well be the answer to innovation — and profit.
Today’s version of showrooming
isn’t just about viewing products in the store and then buying them online.
Instead, it’s more about showcasing merchandise in a different way that offers
shoppers the chance to truly experience the product.
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In some cases, such as Samsung 837
in New York City or Nordstrom Local in Los Angeles, retailers may choose to
build showrooms that hold no actual inventory. Retailers don’t need to go to this
extreme to reap the benefits of providing a showroom-like experience.
Physical retail is becoming much
more about creating a destination for shoppers to discover and interact with
products. That’s something that any retailer can do. Obviously in grocery
retail, you can’t just have product to look at and not buy. Rather, in these
instances, the showroom concept could still play out as meal solutions, chef
tables, food expos or opportunities to create your own samples.
In fact, grocery retailers may be
in one of the best positions to quickly tap into the showrooming trend. As a
grocery retailer, you already have all of the ingredients you need right in
your store to suit your shoppers’ needs. Once you have a clear understanding of
who your target audience is and what types of experiences they’re seeking, you
can literally reconfigure what you have to meet those expectations.
For example, a grocery store in a
more affluent, urban area might consider bringing in a sommelier to circulate
the wine department and offer pairing ideas, while a store in a more suburban
area that caters to busy families might showcase 15-minute meal solutions every
evening from 4 to 6 p.m.
There’s no other way physical
retail will continue to be relevant unless it provides the experiences that
people are craving. Experiential marketing events like pop-up shops or mobile
tours can be an ideal way for retailers to test out possible solutions before
making the full investment in moving forward. As a retailer, you may have
different audiences with different needs. A series of events can help you test
out different ideas to see which ones resonate best with shoppers and deliver
the best return.
Ultimately, this focus on
experience won’t be just a differentiator, but the key to survival. Consumers
wonder, “If I can buy basic commodities online, what is the purpose of going
out to the store?” It has to be about the experience. Within the next five to
10 years, this will become the norm. There’s no other way physical retail will
continue to be relevant unless it provides the experiences that people are
craving.
Ryan James Dee is Creative Director at Interactions. He leads the ideation and development of
consumer experience marketing campaigns for clients across grocery, CPG, food service,
automotive and adult beverage. Always on the lookout for the next big thing,
his appetite for pop culture, trendspotting and entertainment is insatiable.