Despite blatant signs that present online retail is not all its cracked up to be, the lemming propensity continues unabated.
Setup, operational and maintenance costs continue to rise exponentially as technology and fickle trading conditions battle to keep up with a transient market. Do customers spend more or is it just more people spending online? Again, adding to the cost of servicing dismal basket sizes to multitudinous destinations.
Volumes are not there and comparable sales are not improving to justify further outlay because of the cannibalisation effect on bricks and mortar. How do we rationalise a concept that gives customers an option to avoid the temptation of impulse or the seduction of in-store sensory? The 35 per cent increase in online sales (usually off a low base) contradicts the meagre 2 per cent overall business results, revealing a terminal indictment of distracted leadership.
Modern retail’s Achilles is not about being current, but in driving trends thus creating a deeper void between the two. The ever-changing face of social media means business require a sizable online crew to ensure relevance and forging a contemporary presence. Get it wrong and the consequences can be devastating at the hands of viral communications
Manufacturers and distributors must also be held more accountable as to where their products are sold. Discretionary availability is paramount in developing meaningful brand loyalty by supporting outlets ideally positioned to supply their genre of the market. How long do traditional traders support product prostituted elsewhere?
There is also evidence of an emerging retro backlash to technology and a need for us all to reduce screen time. After all, there has to be a limit as to how many hours, days, weeks, months and years we can spend in front of our gadgets. Book-sales are bettering, cycling is on the up and vinyl has made a miraculous reappearance as we search for environmental downtime.
That is not to say there is no place for online sales, for that couldn’t be further from the truth as technical advancement forges ahead. The required changes are perspective and whether retail considers cybersales as competition or an opportunity to enhance what they do best. Hence, providing inspirational experience through our stores in the forms of therapy and entertainment that are still unparalleled today.
Resisting the fear induced rhetoric of an apocalyptic demise if we don’t conform to the virtual bully’s delusion of taking over the world. Take them on using the same principles that made retail what it is and create a complimentary cyber existence that lures the masses through the front doors.
Dave Farrell is a retailer with three decades of experience on three continents. He can be reached at alliance@vodafone.co.nz.
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