I wrote out a big comment with extensive hyperbole comparing the retail industry to the movie business and their reluctance to give up their old business model but it got a bit ridiculous. It's not going to get that bad because there is already a good foothold in online retailing and there isn't really an existing law they can use (to my knowledge) to leverage lawsuits onto people.
Still, I don't feel sorry for the businesses getting "showroomed" that's the point of a free market, if someone does it better, they should get the business, go and adapt yourself and stop bitching about it.
Still, I don't feel sorry for the businesses getting "showroomed" that's the point of a free market, if someone does it better, they should get the business,
The trouble is, the on-line businesses aren't doing it better. In fact, they aren't doing the hard part at all.
go and adapt yourself and stop bitching about it.
Easier said than done, that one.
I think we're going to see shifts in the retail landscape over the next few years as more and more things are available on-line, because bricks 'n' mortar stores do have some advantages of their own that no on-line store can ever fully match:
* You can try out a real, physical product, even examining the exact item you're going to buy if necessary.
* You can take it away with you immediately.
* You can interact with real people face to face for advice or if there are any problems.
There will always be a certain kind of customer who values these things. I know, because I'm one of them. I don't want to buy a $1,000 monitor and find it has dead pixels and some legalese small print makes it my fault. I don't want to buy some jewellery as a gift and then find it doesn't quite match another item the recipient already has. I don't want to buy a pair of trousers and find this make uses slightly different sizes to whoever I bought from last time and the new pair doesn't quite fit. I don't want to buy a gift for a book-lover and find the cover got torn a bit in the mail. For items like these, where the exact details and quality matter and it's worth the time to make a careful purchase, there will always be a market for real stores that provide good customer service and convenient access.
On the other hand, city centre stores that are staffed by unpleasant teenagers who think customer service is not shoving you out of the way more than three times in a visit, which sell commodity junk for cheap prices anyway, and where you have to queue for half an hour to get to the car park, pay a small fortune when you get there, queue for another twenty minutes to get to the till in the store, and then get told that the special offer on the sticker doesn't apply because it's Wednesday... Well, those stores are toast, and good riddance. If I want poor quality products, ambiguous pricing, non-existent customer service, and unreliable support in the event of any problems, at least I can get that from the comfort of my own home these days.
Still, I don't feel sorry for the businesses getting "showroomed" that's the point of a free market, if someone does it better, they should get the business, go and adapt yourself and stop bitching about it.