This Phone Could Kill Your Business!
by Veronica Stone on September 19th, 2007
It may look like an ordinary innocent cell phone but it operates technology that is poised to destroy every independent retailers business!
We have become used to cell phones as the ultimate multi-tasking device. The younger generation seems to be obsessed with speaking on them every moment of the day, snapping photographs of anything and everything and text messaging until their fingers ache.
Up until now the cell phone may have been just a mere annoyance to store owners as shoppers may be distracting others by having loud conversations inside the store. Three new software companies have surfaced this year touting a new "comparison shopping" cell phone service which they feel will revolutionize shopping. In a world where the small independent retailer already has the giant box stores siphoning their profit margins and ruining their downtown shopping districts, these phones have long-term implications that can destroy the small retailer.
Frucall, an Irvine, California company, says that people can dial its service as they shop in a store, punch in a bar code and find out whether a particular item is available cheaper online. Two other companies, Scanbuy and GPShopper, have also entered the market with similar products. With GPShopper a service is provided to help a shopper find a store nearby or internet store where the product is cheaper!
So, our retail stores will become showrooms for shoppers to come in and physically see the product, have product questions answered by our staff and then type in or scan the bar code off the packaging and be directed elsewhere to buy the product cheaper. How long do you think the small store can survive when they are being used as showrooms for the manufacturers?
Proponents of this technology argue that stores will have to be competitive in order to survive in the marketplace. These proponents obviously do not have any experience in the retail industry. Not everyone can "roll-back" their prices to a 5% profit margin. Not everyone has the volume of business that a big box store has.
In defense of the small retailer who struggles daily to make a living in the industry, we are not price gauging our shoppers. Making a fair profit margin allows us to pay our rent, employees and our mortgages to stay in our neighborhoods and be part of our communities. The CEO’s of the big box stores are not our neighbors. The money made at these mega-chains is being funneled out of our communities with the exception of the meager salaries paid to workers.
I am not advocating that consumers shouldn’t be educated about their purchases. Most small retailers offer exceptional service and fair value. Because of the mega-chains everything has become about price which is only one facet of the retail experience. Now, with this cell phone technology which will guide people to online sites who operate with minimal overhead and have no ties to the retailing community, it could destroy the entire retailing industry as we know it.
