The Hidden Value of Inspiring Your Customers | PROFITguide.com

July 11, 2017July 11, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Erica Dao used to shop at malls once a month, looking in stores and seeing what the mannequins displayed. Now, she mainly looks for inspiration on social media. “I discover brands through Instagram,” said Dao, 33, of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Those kind of shifts illustrate the way people are changing how they buy clothing. Shoppers aren’t just showrooming at stores and then buying the same items online if they can find better prices—it’s a more significant separation from the mall. That is spelling big problems for mall chains like The Limited, which has shut all 250 of its stores, and Wet Seal, which filed for bankruptcy.

Retailers Have Long Feared Showroomers. Maybe They Should Love Them Instead | Forbes

May 18, 2017May 17, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When San Francisco-based management consultant Vivian Zeldis walks into a clothing store, she expects it to mirror the websites and apps where she now does most of her shopping. “I kind of want stores that look very clean and yet at the same time have all the sizes and all of the colors,” she says. “And I want to check out fast. I don’t want long lines. If there’s long lines, I leave.”

For years, traditional retailers have worried customers like Zeldis would hurt their bottom lines. The main concern is that consumers will go to physical stores to look around and evaluate products, then buy online from other sources, often at a discount – a practice called “showrooming.”