Rich Gorman Reveals Folly Behind In-Store Marketing Trends
New York, New York (PRWEB) July 22, 2013 -- According to online marketing expert Rich Gorman, brick-and-mortar retailers around the country are effectively trying to beat Amazon.com at its own game—a move that Gorman says is ill-advised. He is not the only one to think so. A recent Venture Beat article sheds light on the ways in which traditional retailers are trying to stay afloat, and also the ways in which these efforts are coming up short.
“To battle Amazon, brick-and-mortar retailers are leveraging the power of data,” the Venture Beat article states. Specifically, old-school stores like Nordstrom, and even many newer ones like Warby Parker, are resorting to in-store tracking so that they can figure out everything they could ever need to know about their customers—including age, sex, and which sections of the store they spend the most time in.
“Big data is all the rage among online marketers, and traditional retailers are attempting to replicate its effect,” comments Rich Gorman, in his new press statement. “They are trying to leverage these statistical findings to provide customizable, personalized in-store shopping experiences. But while this may be something people like to find on Amazon.com, it is not necessarily what customers want out of their brick-and-mortar retailers.”
Indeed, Venture Beat explains that, for retailers, the goal is to acquire as much data as they can, developing stronger customer profiles and, in tern, selling them on more personalized product displays and recommendations. “Just as online retailers rely on tracking cookies and recommendation systems, retailers are turning to the comforts of data to go after visitors,” the article maintains. In theory, this will lead to such in-store offerings as recommendations, couples, and stores more optimized to sell customers as many products as possible, all of them personalized and hand-picked.
The problem, Venture Beat notes, is that in-store data collection “tickles the same part of the brain that online user tracking does.” This should be a problem to retailers, who often defend these data collection activities simply by saying that they’re trying to keep up with Amazon.
“This represents the central problem with in-store data collection, which is that it simply misses the point that in-store and online shopping are two wildly different prospects,” Gorman affirms. “Retailers are doing nothing at all to curb the underlying problem, which is that the in-store experience is usually just dreadful, and people prefer to do their shopping via computer.”
Tracking the data from customers is only useful is customers are flocking to stores in the first place, Venture Beat continues—and if Amazon continues to lure away more and more customers, the helpfulness of in-store data collection will dwindle until it all but disappears.
“In my view, retailers should stop trying to emulate Amazon and instead try to set themselves apart with a different kind of shopping experience—one that is more human and more social,” concludes Rich Gorman. “This is the only way for companies to redeem the in-store shopping experience.”
ABOUT:
Online marketing authority Rich Gorman is known as one of the most distinctive voices in the direct response advertising realm. As an industry leader and prolific blogger, Gorman has given away millions of dollars worth of trade secrets and insider tips. Furthermore, Gorman is passionate about the fields of online reputation management and social media marketing. Gorman has successfully launched and sold numerous thriving businesses.
Hunter Jones, PR Management, Inc., 484-362-9658, [email protected]
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