Split Personalities

I can recall a time in recent history when the majority of the people around me felt uncomfortable with online shopping.  At the turn of the century, websites like eBay were still seen as risky to a significant amount of the population.  The trust economy of the internet was still in it`s early adopters stage, as many still wrestled with the idea of buying something that they can`t physically see or touch.  Not to mention their reservations when it comes to giving out their credit card number to strangers they can`t even put a face to.  However, with the convenience, selection, and prices that the internet provided the marketplace, it was only a matter of time until more and more people got on board. Where the real growing pains for retail happened was not with the market, but with the companies themselves.

Many companies were faced with similar questions in the process of learning how to leverage the web for their business.  Should we enter into this realm or not? How do we participate in this space? How do we manage these operations?

Many companies struggled with incorporating their current business model with these new ones.  Many still operate their offline and online business fairly independently.  One thing's for sure is that online commerce has without a doubt established itself as a major player across all industries and continues to enable and reveal new opportunities that were impossible before.  So much so, that many giants in the offline world have been feeling the pressure to compete.

Best Buy has had a tough time during this mass exodus towards online, as many customers have used the big box store as a showroom gallery to gain the hands-on experience, just to complete the purchase with a different online retailer who was able to sell it for cheaper.  Online eye wear retailer Warby Parker  has recently developed an offline strategy that proves that online companies are not perfectly meeting the needs of the market either.

I believe that the next 10 years will introduce greater integration between between offline and online.  The line of distinction will become much more blurred as mobile technology that's paired with RFID, NFC, QR codes and the like continue to provide augmented shopping experiences in the offline environment.  Men's clothing store Hointer and Tesco's supermarket initiative in South Korea, are some early examples of where retail is going.  While in the meantime, some brick and mortars have taken to other means to negate the threats of showrooming in the short term, retailers will need to adopt more sustainable solutions that leverage the strengthens of both.