USA's largest retail cycle chain closes after bancruptcy

[DieselnDust]

some very good points raised here about retail experience.

 

Fact of the matter is, even though people want to touch and feel, they will still then go and compare prices online and buy the cheapest.

Customer service and experience will make a difference and a lot of the times if the customer buys from a brick and mortar store they will buy from the one with the better service.

 

What retail stores now need to offer is a destination experience. Most of the times this will translate to a coffee shop or restaurant with the product sales being a sideline and not the sole reason why customers come there.

 

I liked the idea someone mentioned earlier of having an instore webstore. Let the customer touch and feel the product on display, then sit down with a cup of coffee and a laptop/tablet and order what they want from your webstore.

That was my suggestion for the Instore webstore. Bricks and mortor stores have to keep evolving to meet the market. Just offering a great service doesn't cut it except in very specific locations where customers are just dropping and collecting.

Alternatively stores that can carve a specialist niche for themselves will also survive as long as they can continue to demonstrate the value of their specialisation

[CAAD4]

Exciting times for retail. Yuppiechef are evolving from an online exclusive business to an omni channel business, now with three brick and mortar stores in Cape Town. This after they were convinced that the future of retail was online. After 11 years they realised that they were missing out on 80% of the retail market in SA, by being online only. Their stores have mobile check outs so you can select your product with an associate on a tablet, make your selection, confirm, pay and decide, to take it with you, if they have it there, or they will deliver it. How do they know what to stock in a physical store? Probably from solid data analytics in the background, they could easily list their 500 most popular items.

 

Takealot are finalising a nice customer walk in Centre in Midrand at their warehouse. Surely it will also have a nice showroom, in order to showcase hot new, or popular items that can be seen by hundreds of new customers every week, who have opted to save on delivery and collect? Why have they started experimenting with age old, printed catalogues? Maybe because they know they are missing out on 80% of local retail that does not currently shop online. Local Online is growing very rapidly, but there are still Saffers that like going to a mall to be entertained, thrilled or to scratch and smell, so if stores don't make it interesting, people simply won't come. Personalisation is one way of making a customer feel important, make him feel welcome, part of your Tribe. Let him make changes to the product in store, which you do with a smile. If he wants his initials on the latest Nikes, do it for him, like they do in their new Flagship store in NYC on a specific floor for members only. Levis and other stores offer in store tailoring and other personal touches. Some American Eagle clothing stores are experimenting, free in store laundromat and wifi for students, as they want to try and create a cool place to hang out, where you will buy your jeans in NYC. Hamleys locally pump happy gas throughout their toy stores, so that kids and parents smell candy floss and feel happy. Maybe they will part with their money a little easier.

 

Damn I can even download an app, so my number plate is scanned at a mall parking entrance and I don't have to queue and pay at a machine, but it comes off my card instead (unless there is load shedding, which still requires human Intervention, as I saw this morning)

 

To go back to the original post, I went into a Performance Bike branch in Fort Lauderdale two years ago and it was worse than a Sportsmans Warehouse. They never adapted or changed, so they died.

 

Experiential retail is where it's at when it comes to Brick and mortar.

[Dubber]

 

 

Fact of the matter is, even though people want to touch and feel, they will still then go and compare prices online and buy the cheapest.

Agree to a point.  I like a deal as much as the next guy.  But if the in store bike is more expensive (within reason), but comes with free tune-ups for life from the bike store, discounted services, the odd free wash etc then I would seriously consider it.  This despite me doing most of my own mech work.  (For reference, this is generally standard with bikes bought in store at local bike shops here).

 

 

I liked the idea someone mentioned earlier of having an instore webstore. Let the customer touch and feel the product on display, then sit down with a cup of coffee and a laptop/tablet and order what they want from your webstore.

Nice idea too - and not difficult to implement.  My thought on this is that people generally order online because it is cheaper.  So would the store have different pricing for on the floor products vs online products?

[The Ouzo]

 

Fact of the matter is, even though people want to touch and feel, they will still then go and compare prices online and buy the cheapest.

Agree to a point. I like a deal as much as the next guy. But if the in store bike is more expensive (within reason), but comes with free tune-ups for life from the bike store, discounted services, the odd free wash etc then I would seriously consider it. This despite me doing most of my own mech work. (For reference, this is generally standard with bikes bought in store at local bike shops here).

 

So basically you want your discount in the form of free stuff.

 

 

I liked the idea someone mentioned earlier of having an instore webstore. Let the customer touch and feel the product on display, then sit down with a cup of coffee and a laptop/tablet and order what they want from your webstore.

Nice idea too - and not difficult to implement. My thought on this is that people generally order online because it is cheaper. So would the store have different pricing for on the floor products vs online products?

It’s the price, but it’s also the “don’t want to be bugged by a salesman” thing.

 

In my industry so many people have spent hours online researching and watching YouTube that when they come in they feel they know everything, so you give them their space and 99% of the time they’ll come and ask about something they saw online but it’s not the same hands on.

 

What retail stores need are consultants/advisors not salesman. Show/advise the customer but the only vested interest they should have is to uphold the brand reputation. They should not be incentivized on the sale.

Takes the pressure off towards the customer.

[Wayne pudding Mol]

Lots and lots of valid points. Shopping is now and experience for sure but the right product is essential. Of the multitude of mistakes Edcon (Edgar's, jet, CNA, boardmans) one of their greatest is product offering. They are not on trend and their markups are monstrous harkening back to an era when they controlled fashion retail. Hungrier retailers just kept doing it better for less.

It's an unpleasant experience being in their stores and the value doesn't make up for this.

 

No matter what I'm buying, I worked hard for what I'm about to spend, be nice to me or I'll give it to someone else.

[DieselnDust]

One of the best run distributors gets a lot of flack for always being low on stock. However this is exactly what you want. Being high on stock will always leave a business vulnerable to price fluctuations caused by volatile currency in most cases in SA. Large stock holding of fashion items is like playing poker.

Dead stock is worse than volatile currency. Want to revalue your money fast then hold large quantities of stock. This is another area performance bike was poor. And don't get caught with your pants down holding last year's stock.

We have some great examples of good prudent business management here in SA amongst our distributors but the retailers have to catch up and be innovative

[BigDL]

some very good points raised here about retail experience.

 

Fact of the matter is, even though people want to touch and feel, they will still then go and compare prices online and buy the cheapest.

Customer service and experience will make a difference and a lot of the times if the customer buys from a brick and mortar store they will buy from the one with the better service.

 

What retail stores now need to offer is a destination experience. Most of the times this will translate to a coffee shop or restaurant with the product sales being a sideline and not the sole reason why customers come there.

 

I liked the idea someone mentioned earlier of having an instore webstore. Let the customer touch and feel the product on display, then sit down with a cup of coffee and a laptop/tablet and order what they want from your webstore.

Chain Reaction have always had an In-store Webstore. Was just in there now and left with a couple of items in my hands and a couple arriving by post in the next few days from the online store. Works well, but they obviously have a shitload of stock in the warehouse whereas most small retailers who also have an online presence will have all their stock on display in their store.

[BigDL]

Chain Reaction have always had an In-store Webstore. Was just in there now and left with a couple of items in my hands and a couple arriving by post in the next few days from the online store. Works well, but they obviously have a shitload of stock in the warehouse whereas most small retailers who also have an online presence will have all their stock on display in their store.

Also, Apple, who I work for, have a similar experience whereby you can buy in store from a combination of physical and virtual store