The role of retail in the internet age (page 2 of 2)

Thus, a customer may use the Internet to visit car manufacturers' different web sites but will go to a traditional car lot to test drive the vehicle and close the deal. The retailer provides necessary personal contact that the Internet cannot offer.

To succeed against Internet competitors, retailers must reassess the benefits of the entire shopping experience and seek niches in the market that the Internet cannot fill. No one can dispute that the Internet offers large selections, convenience and low prices. However, it can never offer the entertainment, personal service and "touch and feel" value of a physical store.

The future successful retail store must build upon what the Internet cannot offer and add value to its customer's shopping experience by giving them that "something extra" to ensure continued patronage. For instance, a wine shop that offers free tastings, talks from wine experts, and food and wine pairing sessions, will always be able to share the market with Internet competitors. The physical store may sell the same base products as its Internet counterpart, but cater to a very different customer.

In contrast, certain industries such as music have won a significant percentage of the market away from retail outlets. RIO Diamond offers consumers the flexibility of selecting individual tracks of CDs from a library of more than 18 million. Actually, several hundred thousand of these are free, all of high sound quality. Indeed, this technology has replaced the need for actual world music stores and has posed a challenge for record companies.

There will always be a place for retailers that serve impulse and recreational purchasers, as well as for those that sell products that don't sell well over the Internet. However, traditional retail stores will need to re-invent themselves as often as their online competitors to compete offline and online.