This week in a meeting amongst stores and buyers, the topic was a very stylish and well-constructed kid’s bed. The buyer had recently reduced the price (again!) from $648 to $598, and was asking the stores: what’s happening with this bed? It’s fun, has lots of storage and functionality, and the price is less than half of retail. The stores said it gets a lot of looks, but the above-$600 price tag for a kid’s bed is off-putting. So, we’re trying it at another price level, and I hope it will work.
Today I did a quick Internet search to see what retailers were selling it and at what price: every quoted price I saw was 4 figures. Our retail is so far below the market value it’s not funny.
Which just made me think (again) how powerful it would be to enable the customer to combine the benefits of Internet search (comparison pricing, reviews etc) with her in-store experience. Sure, we could allow the customers to use our showroom PCs to comp shop while in the store, but it would be so much more powerful if the customer could take a picture of the item (or its 2D barcode) with her own phone to search for and display comparative prices, specs, and reviews. Although our price tags declare the comparative retail price, how much more credible that price would be if the customer could verify the actual retail from other retailers’ websites.
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2 comments:
I like the idea and think that there are places elsewhere on the planet where this is either a near-horizon technology or already deployed. I think that some retailers will be resistant, though, which points out the value of information in the marketplace. I think there are retailers who adhere to the idea that an ignorant customer is a good customer, a tabla rasa upon which they might write their own narrative of value and worth. Still, this, or something very close, is an inevitable technology. That much is simply beyond argument, whether it's driven by the customer or the seller, the only question being how long until we see it widely dispersed. On the other hand, I think this technology will have the unintended consequence of leveling price-points and margins across product lines to such a point that significant differences in price between retailers for similar products will be further reduced and competition will center instead on value-adds at the customer interface level.
It's clearly visible already that the Internet has had a truly profound leveling influence in this way beyond even books and music. For instance, the local music store where I purchase supplies and instruments and sheet music has been forced to pay attention to the web, to web pricing especially, and to price their inventory accordingly. The same goes for the veterinarian to whom we take our dog. They now follow web pricing for the monthly preventative meds we give to the dog, and have added the service of processing any rebates that might apply, which saves me time and money and I still get the product at very close to the web price if not at a better price.
I'd guess that the main impediment to user uptake of this technology will be a sort of numbers game in that people do not shop for furniture that often on a an individual basis, as well as other big ticket items. How eager are they going to be to scan and search lower-cost items like shirts or shoes? There has to be a value to the customer for each scan and search, and there have to be enough instances over time of occasions appropriate to using the technology that it becomes second nature, almost, for the customer to think of doing it and then actually doing it when provided with the opportunity. I think though that this barrier is probably pretty low.
Anyway, cool ideas!
Amazon.com Launches ''Amazon TextBuyIt,'' Making It Fast and Easy for Customers to Shop and Buy on Amazon.com Using Text Messages
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=NewsArticle&id=1124741
Apparently Amazon has been reading your blog. Shoppers can now text a UPC code to Amazon and get their price on a product in under minute.
Here's the relevant quote from their press release (linked above):
In less than a minute and using only text messages, Amazon.com customers can find the product they are looking for and complete a purchase using TextBuyIt. Simply send a text message to "AMAZON" (262966) with the name of the product, search term or a UPC or ISBN code, and, within seconds, Amazon replies with the product or products that match the search, along with prices. To buy an item, customers simply reply to the text message by entering the unique single digit number next to the item they want. Customers will then receive a short phone call from Amazon with the final details of their order and asking them to confirm or cancel the purchase.
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