Today’s consumers are becoming more and more connected and well-informed. Businesses looking to tap into the buying processes of these connected consumers means being able to provide helpful information just when these consumers are looking for products that they want to purchase.
Hence, various comparison apps and sites have emerged to cater to consumers’ needs to compare products right at their fingertips prior to actually making the decision of which item or service to buy.
While many people know that the price is cheaper online, they really do not want the inconvenience of going home, booting up their computer, and making the purchase to save a few dollars. There were some people that would do this, but a good proportion of people wouldn’t. This is how companies who managed to stay fairly competitive with their prices have managed to stay in business.
Enter smartphones.
Both Bing and Basket, along with Amazon, have introduced what are known as comparison apps.
The purpose of these apps is to allow you to check prices ‘on the go.’ All you need to do is scan the barcode and, in most cases, hundreds of different stores will be searched for the ‘best deal’. People can do this while they’re standing in a shop about to put an item in their basket. They can do it in front of the salesman, if they want.
Nowadays, access to the best deals can be had right in the ‘palm of the hand.’ There is no need to go home and use a computer at all. This means that the people who may have otherwise purchased from the store due to sheer convenience may not do so, not if they can see something far cheaper online while actually standing in the store.
And, let’s be honest, scanning a barcode does not take all that much effort.
Competitive pricing in retail stores is far more important than ever. You have to be competitive. If you are not competitive, your online counterparts are going to take your business away. You are going to spend time with a customer, deliver that sales talk and get absolutely nothing from it. You will be nothing more than a ‘physical showroom’ for online stores.
This is why prices need to be brought down to a competitive range.
Nobody is saying that you have to be cheaper than the online stores. You just have to be competitive. Nobody is really going to mind paying a couple of dollars extra on something if they can get it there and then.
There are some retail outlets out there who really do not want to reduce their prices. They feel as though it will deliver no benefit to them. They feel as though a reduction in prices may mean they can meet utility bills and wage costs. This is, in most cases, not going to happen.
Through competitive pricing and increasing your competitiveness, you will drastically increase the number of sales that you are making as less people will be inclined to purchase online. So, essentially, through economies of scale you will be able to ensure that your business continues to run.
Image: BasketSavings.com
Jonha: Competitive / comparing pricing sites have been popular in Scandinavia for a long time. That said, a store could add a value / service that a web site could have a hard thing to do. And that could be worth to pay an extra premium for.