If a Local Business has not gotten the big picture yet, then it is susceptible to the risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
American retailers are closing stores at a record pace this year as they feel the fallout from decades of overbuilding and the rise of online shopping.
Just this past week, women’s apparel chain Bebe Stores Inc. said it would close its remaining 170 shops and sell only online, while teen retailer Rue21 Inc. announced plans to close about 400 of its 1,100 locations.
How did we get here? The answer is in how the Customer’s Journey has changed with Technology.
20 years ago, the in store help served as your sales person, your encyclopedia for the information a shopper used to get informed to make a buying decision, with a nudge or two from your commissioned retail sales person. Today, Google serves as the first stop for the inquiring prospect for a product or service. If you are an emergency Dentist in Dallas Tx, or a Plumber in Chicago, you’ve known for a long time now that your prospects are grabbing the mobile device from their purse or pocket, and researching.
for the Retail outlet, there are even more forces at work here. Competition like Amazon, the E Commerce wave via Alibaba, have all changed how people shop. If your website is not converting prospects to buyers, as your in store Sales people once did, then your livelihood is at risk.
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