I came across an article the other day predicting brick and mortar retail will die in the next 5 years.  Wow!  We at StoreCatch certainly don’t think that is the case, but there are some interesting trends to pay attention to.

Trend One – People increasing look to the internet to learn about and compare products

According to internet retailer, 50% of broadband users say the internet influenced a recent purchase.  When you look around, how many people do you know that consume beyond the basic necessities yet don’t have a broadband connection to the internet?  I would guess not many, and the number is dwindling rapidly.  Follow me here – lets say you need a new winter coat.  How will your search begin?  If you are like me, you will pull up your trusty browser, go to a search engine and type in ‘winter coat’. You will find two or three that look good and attempt to find them locally. Once found, you go try them on and eventually buy. Researching products online are now a way of life.

Trend Two – Reviews Rule

More and more, people are searching for reviews before purchasing a product.  In fact, according to Rubicon, the second largest influencer in purchasing decisions is online reviews.  It is easy (albeit not necessarily safe) to trust product reviews.  The more colorful the review, the more trustworthy. It seems, the ‘5 star’ system is the standard. How many reviews does it take to make the ratings trustworthy? I think that number is around 4.

Trend Three – Price is King

Has price ever not been king?  I suppose not,  but in these current economic doldrums, price is increasingly the paramount aspect to a successful sale.  With (unemployment around 9.5% as of Oct 09), consumers have less to spend.  That would suggest they are more price sensitive than in the past.  The lowest price is winning a greater number of customers than in the past.  You must focus (almost singlemindedly) on price and how to lower it.

The question now becomes, as a retailer, how are you reacting to these trends? Tell us what changes you have made recently!

StoreCatch loves store owners! We're doing our part to keep brick and mortar retail strong by providing tools to get you noticed. Having a sale and need to get the word out? Need to create a coupon? Want to discuss retail? Lets Start Sale'n!

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Better Retailing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.