World Retailers Are Worried About Becoming "Online Showrooms" For Online Competitors.

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All of us are worried about becoming the "showroom" of online competitors and making wedding clothes for others.

Their worries are not worrying.

The global mobile payment this year will exceed US $171 billion 500 million on the basis of last year's US $106 billion, the Gartner Research Institute reported.

And this only includes the mobile payment part, which has not yet included the total online payment.

China's Internet development statistics show that as of the end of June 2012,

The scale of users has reached 210 million, and the number of online shopping users has reached 37 million 470 thousand.

Smart phones and other mobile terminals have entered the life of users, injecting new vitality into mobile e-commerce, and mobile shopping is being gradually accepted by users.

Mobile phone online payment applications have also been developing rapidly, with 44 million 400 thousand users in the first half of 2012.

In the near future, telecom operators, banking institutions and three party payment companies will work together to build mobile payment platform, which will promote the development of the entire mobile payment industry chain.

Overall, mobile commerce and online orders keep growing at the same time.

However, with the application of smart phones, showroom phenomenon has emerged in the world.

In short, the showroom phenomenon refers to shoppers entering the physical store, photographing or scanning after finding the necessary products, and then leaving the store to shop online at a lower price.

For example, Best Buy as a physical store has always been a typical example of the merchandise showroom in the online shopping mall, while consumers in China prefer Tmall, Jingdong and other online shopping outlets to buy goods in their stores at lower prices.

Online shopping mall does not need to generate the regular cost of physical stores. It does not need to be equipped with salesmen, and does not have to face many problems faced by retailers.

Like many online retailers, online stores are not traditional retailers.

In fact, they are equivalent to distributors and operate in different ways from retail stores.

In fact, the exhibition room will not disappear soon, and will continue to develop.

In the new retail environment, how retailers seek survival and development will depend on how they respond to customer needs.

Wes Shepherd, CEO of Channel IQ, an online intelligent service provider, said that even when retailers were exposed to the crisis brought by showroom phenomena, laser technology would be used to make handheld scanning technology unreadable.

This is contrary to the concept of "customer first".

But not everyone is worried about the showroom.

In fact, some people think that showroom phenomenon has a positive impact on retailers.

Forrester Research Research Institute

Brian Walker, vice president of channel strategy, said during this year's online retailer Exhibition (IRCE): "customers who are carrying smart phones in shopping malls are concerned not only with prices."

A number of market surveys have proved that he is right.

These surveys show that more and more consumers first search online and then go to retail stores.

This may be true for many retail products.

However, price is very important for electronic retailers, such as the main selling TV products.

In this regard, the showroom phenomenon has a lasting impact, because big retailers such as best buy have seen a decline in consumer electronics sales.

While prices continued to decline, sales of best buy Consumer Electronics in 2012 had dropped by 4.9%, down 5.9% in 2011.

Depending on the progress of technology, the grim reality of showroom phenomenon is that retail stores face rapid changes in decades.

For a physical retailer, it is necessary to change the current business operation mode so as to survive.

In the past, customers regarded different retail portals as independent entities, such as entity stores, websites and customer service centers.

If a customer is not satisfied with online shopping, they may not necessarily associate it with a physical store.

Things are no longer the same now.

Retailers now have many different sales channels.

Some retailers offer traditional store assistance to customers, while others do self-service programmes.

In short, customers can get technical support, including Internet, smart phones, tablet computers, cashiers and service centers.

Because customers often connect physical stores with websites, retailers must consider the overall shopping experience of customers.

If the customer is not satisfied with any channel, it will have an impact on the whole paction.

The merchant should consider the customer experience from the point of view of each contact point to ensure that the customer obtains a consistent brand experience in various channels.

Although the showroom phenomenon is very complex, it is difficult to cope with it.

But it also provides a new way for businesses to expand their businesses.

If you create a 100% self help retail experience, you may become a showroom for others.

Retailers should make use of their innate advantages to provide customers with intimate and direct services to win market competition and avoid showroom phenomenon.

In today's world where multi-channel commerce exists everywhere, retailers must accurately grasp customer needs and purchase habits, including shopping and return, so as to build customer files, and on this basis, predict customer needs according to purchase records and provide commodity suggestions.

With the increasing number of channels for management, sales opportunities are also increasing.

Businesses need to build effective order management systems, which serve as a cross channel business central database and connect all channels.

On this basis, businesses can fully understand customer activities in various channels.

More and more retailers are equipped with smart phones or tablet computers for shop assistants, enabling them to check customer shopping records in seconds and display products to customers according to known customer preferences.

Retailers have to create personalized experience for customers to make profits in the showroom environment, which has become more and more important.

In addition, what steps can the business take to relieve the showroom phenomenon? Michael Fox, President of California M&M Paper, recommends training employees to become salesmen instead of ordinary salesmen, so that they can emphasize the benefits of store purchases to customers, encourage customers to return from stores, without having to worry about paying freight, waiting for delivery or handling long distance returns.

Working with suppliers to provide unique product portfolios that do not sell online will also help retailers promote sales.

Compared with businesses selling merchandising products, small retailers who choose special items by hand to attract specific customers are more likely to complete sales quickly.

Moreover, lower pricing helps narrow the price gap with online competitors.

By adjusting the price to the online price (including freight forwarding), we can attract more customers and maintain customer loyalty.

Loyalty scheme may be effective, but it should aim at a clear customer base.

Businesses should seriously consider that a major promotion factor that is often overlooked is the showroom itself.

Showrooms can create a personalized, service-oriented, customer oriented retail entity store, which is a very valuable asset.

The showroom will not disappear.

However, savvy businessmen know how to make use of the advantages of personalized service, combine personalized service with effective order management system and innovative ideas, even if the smallest retailer can succeed.