Business | “Showrooming” And How The Internet Effect Is Affecting Your Business

[The Ed.]

The internet is a wonderful thing. Without, geeks, we wouldn’t be here. There’s a lot of great things that the internet have made possible but it’s not all good news. Business has become tougher than ever with the rise of online retailers stealing customers from under our noses with cheap prices and low overheads. True, there are loyal and savvy customers out there that would rather get their physical hands on a product and ensure it’s the real deal, rather than save a few pennies on the world wide web but there’s no doubt that it’s had an impact.

‘Showrooming’ is the latest trend to hit retail stores both big and small and it refers to customers coming into shops and salons to have a look, play, learn about the product and then walk away and buy it more cheaply on the internet. In other words, retail spaces are becoming nothing more than show rooms. I suppose this has always been the case, but it’s happening at record levels now and affected retail incomes for shops up and down the high street.

Of course, if you buy it over the internet you can never be sure that it’s the real deal. The black and grey markets are littered with all sorts of questionable variations on products but many consumers don’t care or don’t know about that. For them, in this financial climate, it’s often worth the risk.

Is showrooming affecting you? Do you notice more and more clients buying less and less products from you, buying them online instead? Do we have to accept that this is the way it is, or is there something that we can offer to compete?

Until then…geek on!

The Ed.

 

[Lynne Baker]

We hear all the time from new customers that they're walking away from their existing brands because of this very thing. We have taken the decision to not allow online sales and everyone, without exception, is delighted with this stance.
The previous distributor of one of our brands is selling her old stock on eBay and it has indeed hurt us. Thankfully she has limited stock, and most of our customers understand this, but yep, we've lost a few as a direct result.
When I started out as a salon 5 years ago I decided that I would take on salon only brands for this very reason. I'm very, very glad that I did!

 

[Purple]

This is true but coming from you as a beauty professional and advisor it has more meaning, your not just giving them a product to buy but also the experience of you educating them and them feeling it in their hands, tangible.... Instant gratification is another point, the thrill of immediately taking it home and using really puts the icing on the cake for some

 

[wonderwoman]

i know small little facts about every item i stock in the salon and yes it is annoying when you get someone "showrooming". However i can also state that knowing my pro products compared to supermarkets or high streets is not the same! If i ever get anyone thinking about buying it elsewhere, i can always assure them that my pro product to sell is offically the right stuff and that its better than buying elsewhere!

Look at holland and barrets allegedly giving out advice to pills etc to take and not having any medical, or a&p background and acting like pharmacist! The program skin deep the beauty of business higlighted people who buy off fleabay get their just deserves when they buy fillars injectables, acids, tattoos etc- when in the wrong hands its dangerous consequences!! xoxo

 

[Ben Taylor]

What about using affiliate links on your own websites for these products, obviously selling products in store will come at a higher cost because you need to purchase and then sell for a profit. However if you approach 1 or 2 of the main legitimate manufacturers you could offer to advertise their sites directly on your websites/ apps and then you get a small % for every product sold through your referalls, it might not be as large a profit as if you sell directly but at least this way you are making some profit and you know your customers are getting legitimate products.