Ars Technica in an editorial on Amazon's new price checking iPhone app:
"It's certainly a consumer-friendly idea, though one wonders if it will cause that throbbing vein on the necks of Best Buy and Borders execs to throb a bit more quickly. For Amazon to explicitly suggest that shoppers take advantage of bricks-and-mortar stores—an expensive investment that Amazon has purposely not made—and then use the benefit derived from those stores to order the product cheaply online, well, that's a pretty straightforward declaration of war.
Retailers certainly can't be pleased with idea of all those 1-click iPhone orders going to Amazon even as customers stand in their stores, fondling their merchandise. Not antagonizing your customers is the first rule of business, but it's not real hard to imagine some stores approaching heads-down iPhone users with a crisp, "May I help you, ma'am?""
Earlier:
Target Clerk Bans Mobile Price Checking
Barcode Scanner Apps for Android Reviewed
The Future of Retail: Instant Price Match
Bridging The Gap Between Online and Offline Shopping
I often times look at Amazon reviews for a book while in a bookstore, using them to make a purchase decision, and buy the book from the store rather than Amazon. I've done the same with other products, not to mention using my phone to get an opinion from a friend (either by calling or texting to ask, or even by sending a picture). Just as bookstores learned that it was better for business to let customers sit down and read the whole book in store if they liked, they'll learn that that have to compete in a world where customers have more complete information and access to alternative ordering 24/7 whereever they are.
ReplyDeleteSure. But I think retailers are in for a bit of a RIAA moment and it will be a while until they figure out how to adjust (here's how -- focus on impulse purchases; more and better in-store promos).
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