E-Commerce OK, Showrooming KO

Some months ago we read on the news that E-Commerce was up and growing: in five years' time or so, 15% of the European trade will be carried out via Internet. An interesting thing in this development is that consumers tend to begin by byuing products or services of a lower value, like apps (BTW it would be great knowing to what extend the app's trade via app stores is a thriving factor in E-Commerce especially for new buyers). Sesaoned consumers then tend to buy more expensive goods via the net. You can read here my source.

One of the current growing threads of E-Commerce fashion retail, catching quicky up with tourism. Your can read this piece of news here. But along with the widespreading of E-Commerce a new phenomenon comes up which is a sort of 'parasite' to retail stores. It is called 'showrooming' and it is a way for consumers to make up for the greatest of all E-Commerce ommissions, i.e. that you can't see or touch the good you will buy before doing so. So what do users do? They simply go to "real life" stores where these goods are sold and see/touch/test them. And then they go back home and buy them from the net. Obviously, online stores  have lesser costs than real retail stores, and therefore people buy from them for cost reasons. So that's  why this phenomenom happens.

"Showrooming" is obviously an unfair concurrence to retail stores. In some countries it's becoming quite a worying thing for retail shop owners: in some Australian stores, you have to pay to get in and have clothes tested. After you buy, they reimburse the aamount to you. Also, some stores have eexplicitly forbidden taking pictures od the goods they display or of the labels. But the worst of all is that, according to different studies, showrooming will grow in years to come.

So where are the opportunities for the retail shops here? Well, it seems obvious: if the comsumer comes in with his smartphone and operates it from within the store, there is more likelihood that he, after all, buys in the store. And why so? Well, because decisions become quick and more impulsive and if you have the goods in front of you, you are likely to buy them on the spot,,, so the theory. Well, if this is really like this, we'll see it in the near future... Truth is, the consumer is even more empowered and the sotres will have to fight to become "shopping heavens" to be sure they attract the customers's attention... and wallets, of course. It also seems that , in this new scenario, companies with online and offline stores are the winners, unlike those who play only on one side. See this page on EL PAIS and this other one on LA VANGUARDIA. for a full discussion.

In sum, a new challenge is coming up for the retail industry. Nevertheless,  I am sure they have the means and abilities to master it...