[Retailers and the internet]
Clicks and bricks: many retailers are being too slow in reinventing themselves for the
age of online shopping
“WE TEND to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the
effect in the long run,” observed Roy Amara, an American futurologist. This is certainly
proving true of retailers and their attitude to the internet. After a panic at the turn of the
millennium about the impact on their industry of online shopping, bricks-and-mortar stores
settled into making only modest alterations to their business model or, ostrich-like, trying to
ignore it. Few have so far made the radical changes needed to meet the threats from, and tap
the enormous potential of, e-commerce.
Such inaction threatens retailers’ survival. Online sales are now approaching $200 billion a
year in America. Their share of total retail sales is creeping up relentlessly, from 5% five
years ago to 9% now. People in their 20s and 30s do about a quarter of their shopping online.
True, few ladies who lunch will buy their Christian Dior dresses online; and bargain-hunters
will still enjoy rummaging in discount stores like Dollar General. But to attract everyone in
between, retailers will have to build a strong online offering while making their shops nicer,
more conveniently located and, in the case of many big-box retailers, smaller. Otherwise they
are likely to go under, as United Retail Group, an American clothing chain, did this month.
To build a profitable online business, retailers must integrate it seamlessly with their bricksand-mortar operations. Many keep them separate, increasing the risk that they fail to
communicate or work together properly. Walmart’s online operations are in Silicon Valley,
far from its Arkansas headquarters. Target, another supermarket giant, until recently
outsourced its e-commerce to Amazon, the biggest online retailer, and is only now building its
own e-business. Both Walmart and Target still have a puny online presence relative to their
size.
Are you being served?
Retailers also need to be ruthless in chucking out products that do not gain from being sold in
a physical store: not just things like CDs and DVDs, which can be replaced by digital goods,
but bulky stuff like nappies (Amazon has become a big seller of Pampers). Their shops must
focus on those things, such as expensive clothes and gadgets, that customers will want to try
before they buy, and for which they will pay extra, such as advice from competent sales
assistants.
Stores have to become more fun to visit, so shoppers feel it is worth the trip to the mall or
high street. Apple’s shops thrive not only because they contain cool products; they are
beautifully designed, with helpful staff. Disney stores may be an ordeal for parents but they
often succeed in giving their pint-sized clients “the best 30 minutes of a child’s day”. But too
many retailers think only of getting a quick sale, neglecting to build relationships with
customers. They are the most at risk from “showrooming”: shoppers trying products in
physical stores before sneaking off to buy them more cheaply online.
To survive in the new world of retail shopkeepers will need large amounts of imagination—
and money. Macy’s is investing $400m in the renovation of its flagship store in New York.
The losers will include those (like Borders, an extinct chain of bookshops) that keep selling
things people are happy to buy online. The biggest winners will be consumers. They can look
forward not only to ever-greater convenience thanks to the internet. They will also find a
growing number of physical stores that compete to make shopping a pleasure.
Feb 25th 2012 | from the print edition of The Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/21548241
Synonyms
traditional stores
massive
to toss
to suppress (products)
ease of use
handy
main store
tiny
frail
merciless
relentlessly
determined
to get used to
to prosper
behaviour
change
like an ostrich
menace
to exploit
huge
to menace
to purchase
to disappear
items
diapers [UK]
costly
=
gizmo
shopping centre
personnel
fast (4)
storekeeper [US]
to concentrate on
skilled
Antonyms
clicks
retailer
slow
offline
to overestimate
in the short run
to face (a problem)
many
tiny (2)
death
to succeed
branch
dwarf
to insource
strong (3)
↔
bought
cheap (2)
to fail
full-sized
to die
winner
Principals
to meet
progresser lentement
built
gone
to feed
garder
sold
bought
to become
prospérer
gave
thought
What does it stand for?
CD
=
DVD
=
SoLoMo
=
Ropo
=
How do you call …
the act of contracting out a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house
- to an external provider?
=
this phenomenon when shoppers try products in physical stores before sneaking off to buy
them more cheaply online?
=
someone who studies how people will live in the future
=
a person who is looking for goods that are good value for money, usually because they are
being sold at prices that are lower than usual
=
Translate
gros détaillants
magasins traditionnels
magasin principal
prospérer
dorloter
grossiste
dénicheur de bonnes affaires
=
Word formation : -sized
coin-sized stain
cupboard-sized apartment
fair-sized crowd
king-sized
large-sized
matchbox-sized
medium-sized
pocket-sized
similar-sized demonstrations
small and medium-sized businesses
pint-sized client
Word formation : -like
angel-like face
ape-like
catlike
childlike
ladylike
monkeylike