It’s not a ground-breaking statement to say that the Internet is continuing its advance into most areas of our lives, but the extent to which brands are using online to engage with consumers – almost at the expense of bricks and mortar – appears to be gathering pace.
In the last few weeks chocolatier Thorntons has announced it is to use its website as a “testing ground” for the introduction of new products across the business this Autumn, whilst Shop Direct is unveiling a virtual changing room so that customers can “try on clothes” online. And they are not the first. Tesco has a new virtual fitting-room, which it has launched for women only on Facebook for a two-month trial, sounds like a great idea. You upload a couple of photographs to create a 3D version of yourself and try on items from the supermarket’s F&F clothing range.
But is this move really going to satisfy the consumer’s emotional needs to engage with a brand or a product? Surely, when you start to take away the experience, which for many consumers has always been a part of the whole purchase activity, even an idea which in research looks good will fall over. Last year Polo Ralph Lauren had a touch screen in the window of its high street shops, which you could use to pick the item, size etc and order it through the window whilst window shopping. Despite positive research findings the actual usage was minimal; it was a good idea, but come the crunch, behaviourally, people like the touch and feel as well as the look of trying on clothes and of course in premium brand stores you get well informed and attentive staff. For others it is a social event in itself as well.
There are people, though, for whom clothes shopping is one of their least favourite activities. For them, the online experience is something of a godsend. With Marks & Spencer running videos of walking and moving in each item of clothing on the site, can get a feel for the way the clothing looks on a real person and which can aid decision making without the hassle of the high street or the shopping mall. Moreover, reviews online from other shoppers – good and bad – provide a guide to purchasing that you just wouldn’t get if you wandered around in-store. For these shoppers, where it is being done well, the online experience helps consumers make good rather than poor purchasing decisions.
The web is clearly more cost and time effective than doing everything manually. But at the moment, convenience is ruling the day. Flip the coin, if you will, to the brand or the retailer’s perspective, and you can see how online could give you access to a growing, almost global customer base that you simply would not be able to access from a small store or stores. Who knows, perhaps in ten years’ time, we will be talking about a new concept called ‘offline stores’ where you can actually go and touch and try on the clothes in dedicated retail outlets, rather than having to get them online. There is a fine line behaviourally to online transition; how far can it go before ‘enough is enough’ and customers push back?
The answer at the moment is that brands and retailers probably have to do both really well to cater for all consumer mindsets, considering those shopping online are either less concerned, or have already been in-store and made up their minds. But, whilst there is clearly a place for a very integrated online shopping experience, for some categories the experience counts for just as much. Buying some weekly food shopping or a DVD, going online is almost a given. Buying yourself a new suit, would you really want to put your trust in an online cartoon avatar, or does Mr Smith who has been in the business for 40 years count for so much more?
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