Connecting to the topic of social commerce, the following is based on an article I read a while ago in the newspaper Het Algemeen Dagblad. The article is not available online, therefore I add a link of a website where the article is described. Because it is in Dutch I will give a recap of the article in English.
The article focuses on the fact that more and more customers try products on in psychical shops, and then buy the products online for less money. This is a frustration for a lot of shop-owners nowadays. Especially shoes, clothes and electronic devices are products who are tested in the physical shop and than bought online.
The physical shops can not do much about it. A shop specialized in sportshoes did recently put posters on the windows with the text: We don’t let you try shoes, so you can buy it online! Another shop specialized in sportshoes counts 30 euros for advice. Once you buy the shoes there, you do not have to pay the 30 euros.
It is difficult to decide what is a good method to discourage these activities. Fact is, shopping behavior is changing. The shop owners must change their customer approach. The best way to go with this modern developments is to offer the products of a particular physical shop also online.
The Dutch article is available on this website: http://www.joop.nl/economie/detail/artikel/15517_winkels_kunnen_niet_internetshop_op/
I think this changing shopping behaviour is a big threat for physical shops. Do you think these shops will eventually disappear?
