Let me start off by saying that this is a topic that is very close to my heart. I work in the ecommerce space  and believe that the lines between offline and online commerce is steadily falling away. When eBay did their results presentation earlier in the year, the online and offline relationship got a fair amount of coverage.

I am fully aware that Near Field Communication is at the moment nothing short from being a fad. Being able to use a mobile phone to pay for products or services in the physical enviroment is a natural progression from our current retail and payment experience.  It is more secure and even easier than having to take out a credit card from your wallet and signing a slip. It is coming and over time I believe that the cellphone will become the most important piece of technology the world has ever seen..

I am a firm believer in the fact that ecommerce should be used to augment a retail presence. It should not be seen as a threat to the retail business but rather as an extension of the offering to potential shoppers/ users.

However, mobile has brought a new variable for retailers that adds to their concern. They own the shopping experience currently and bombard us with constant messages that they want us to act on.

Let’s take for example Whole Foods, a market chain priding itself on selling the highest quality, freshest, and most environmentally sound produce. No one could argue that their selection of organic food and take-away meals are whole, hearty, and totally delicious. But how much thought have you given to how they’re actually presenting their wares? Have you considered the carefully planning that’s goes into every detail that meets the eye?

Martin Lindstrom’s books are ones that I often revisit when a new disruptor enters the retail environment. Remember technology now adds a new variable for shoppers to check if their retailer is really showing the best price.. or if the sale price is a good one. The retailer is no longer in control of the entire shopping experience and it seems that the retailers are fighting back.

In the UK, Tesco seems to have stopped the practice of writing prices down on a piece of paper..

I was almost arrested in Tesco this week. My crime? Comparing prices. Evidently, this is such a security issue for Tesco that it wants you booted out of the store. The deputy manager rushed up to me within minutes of my arriving at one of its London supermarkets. The security cameras had spotted me with a pen and paper in hand, noting the prices of goods on the shelves. “Excuse me, what are you doing?” he said. I told him I was, well, writing down prices.

In Australia retailers have gone even further and they are contemplating starting to ask fees to shoppers for trying on garments, wetsuits and ski boots.

A RAPIDLY growing number of retailers are threatening to charge “fitting fees” to stop shoppers trying items in store – only to buy them online for less later. Fed-up sellers of everything from cameras to wetsuits, ski boots and wedding gowns say they have been forced to consider charges to protect themselves from what they consider to be exploitation.

In both cases, I don’t believe this is the way to resolve the issue. I understand the reaction as the environment is changing and smartphones are now providing shoppers with the information not to make a purchase. Reacting in this manner as seen in the UK and Australia is going to harm the brands involved. The end result will be a case of footfall as shoppers will not go back to the shop after experiencing these situations.

What will solve this? Number one, instead of reacting to this situation as seen above I would call in the marketing staff and management and ask them if a mobile experience is available? Retailers need to embrace technology (apps, ecommerce and mobile commerce) otherwise they will be left behind. So instead of blocking this, target the mobile and online consumers with campaigns to make purchases. If I look at global retail then I suspect alot more of the above behaviour will be happening…