選`m just browsing` may take on new meaning in stores
Shopkeepers beware: that device shoppers are holding
may not be just a cell phone; it may be a web browser that they’re
using to check store prices against offers at their favorite online
merchants. Although retailers have become accustomed to the growth of
multi-channel comparison shopping, much of it on home or work computers,
they’ll soon have to deal with comparison shopping within the four
walls of their stores.
“Shoppers will walk into stores, find a product,
then see if they can get it cheaper or easier via the web,” says Jon
Nordmark, CEO of eBags Inc. “A person may be shopping in Zales, but
have a jewelry store like BlueNile.com in their pocket.”
EBags.com, of course, could also be on in-store
shoppers’ pocket web browsers, and it will proactively reach shoppers
wherever they happen to be, Nordmark says. “EBags will benefit from
this by e-mailing delivery notifications as well as other messages straight
to our customers,” he says.
Nordmark says it may take a while for the cost of
pocket web browsers to come down before they become widespread. The Treo
600 smartphone from palmOne Inc., which offers wireless high-bandwidth web
browsing, for example, retails for $449.
But as such devices become more common, and as wi-fi
speeds get faster, Nordmark adds, eBags, as well as other retailers, will
find new ways to retail products directly to consumers’ handheld
devices. Retailers will have little choice but to participate, he warns.
“Customer expectations around information are increasing
dramatically,” he says.
