SHOPPING IN CHANGE - PART 1: Interactive INstore is the new ONline

Online shopping has been displacing what was once common shopping behavior, and not just since the Corona crisis and the lockdowns. This trend has been evident for years, but has been going through the roof since the pandemic. Is the trade, especially the "small traders" with their shops on the brink of extinction?

Closed shops have been shaping the appearance of shopping streets and shopping malls for several months. The corona crisis is moving all purchases online and people are learning to appreciate this convenient way of shopping more and more.

Before the triumphant advance of the internet and the advent of online shopping in the early 90s, traditional shopping had a monopoly on meeting consumers' needs. Including business premises, salespeople and cash payment.
But there are ways to keep these personal components of interaction and contact, enhanced by new opportunities, as an important part of the shopping experience. 

Smart online shopping + Real-life shopping experience

Interactive tablets at the point of sale are one way of offering consumers a successful combination of offline and online shopping. Successful because this combination has already been tested with great success and it turned out to be able to accommodate both types of shopping perfectly in this way.
But more on that in PART II ...

With online devices set up specifically for the brand or product line and fed with information, such as interactive tablets, consumers can use the advantages of online shopping directly in the store of their choice - but without intermediaries (such as Amazon) - and at the same time the many advantages Enjoy the real shopping in the beautiful store. In this way, personal contact, the well-known service of individual advice from trained sales staff and thus also the real shopping experience, possibly even in the company of friends, are maintained. In addition - and this is an essential factor in the purchase decision for many people - the coveted goods can be examined, checked and tried on / off live and on site before buying. 

No EITHER / OR

The online shopping services are linked to the advantages of “real life shopping” directly in the shop using interactive, appropriately designed tablets. Thanks to the networked, interactive tablets in the store, consumers can obtain additional information about the product completely independently - without annoying standing or waiting times - such as the place of manufacture, production form, material, guarantee, color alternatives, querying the stock levels, right through to the actual product order, Online payment and agreement of the delivery or collection date.
Stressed salespeople who do their best are also massively relieved at peak times when it becomes impossible for them to look after and advise all customers equally.
And if you want to inspect the purchased product in the desired shape and color on a quiet morning, you pay for the goods that have been prepared for the respective name when you pick it up and also exchange a friendly word with the seller. Double jackpot!

Norbert Kraus, Creative Director @ Team CU2