This holiday season there has been a torrent of articles about how bricks and mortar retailers are facing increased competition from ecommerce and mobile apps. Amazon was widely criticized for offering app users a coupon not to buy something at a bricks and mortar store. Slate provided a blue print for how physical retailers could fight back, but the trend seems inevitable.
Some people are upset by this, especially as it relates to emotional product categories like books, but this increase in competition can only be a good thing. Take this example:
Is the retailer adding much value? Educating customers about which tools is useful in a given scenario? What powers this will confer upon them? No, it is a mess and offers no help to the user except for immediacy and the ability to inspect the product.
Hope is not lost. This display gives a hint of what a retail display could do:
With this display you see what tool should be used in a given context and what purpose it serves. It isn’t perfect, and doesn’t help solve the larger structural problems inherent in the conflict between retailers and ecommerce merchants, but it does use the physical space to help a customer make a smarter decision.
Considering the Swiffer costs ~$20 and the average price of the power tool hovered around $100 I expect more from power tool display. Traditional retailers have challenges ahead, but they also have an amazing stage to educate and inspire their customers that no ecommerce sellers can match. Hopefully they will think more like Broadway producers rather than community theater players, otherwise their will be few frowns when the show closes.
