“Thanks to smartphones, the internet is now also coming into traditional retail premises, giving end customers virtually complete price transparency. It is important for retail businesses to keep their prices up to date at all times and not to try and sell products at a price completely out of sync with those offered online.”

Dominik Endress, Head of Sales brodos.net

According to a study carried out by the GfK (German consumer research association), just over a quarter of all mobile phone users regularly compare the prices of products online whilst standing in a shop. How much does the camera cost somewhere else? Can I get the bike cheaper online? Retailers then often lose out, with many customers actually placing an order online whilst still in the store. Read on to discover why this doesn’t have to happen.

Check prices on mobile phone in store

We need to face up to reality: thanks to the internet, a virtually total price transparency prevails.  Customers know about prices and even research them directly in store. Retailers must therefore offer an appropriate price, as customers otherwise feel cheated if they make a purchase in a retail store and then find the product 50% cheaper online.

Taking the manufacturer’s recommended retail price as your benchmark is virtually useless in all instances, with manufacturers giving a price which is often more than unrealistic. But how are retailers and sellers to know what the right price is at the time the sale is made? In view of the number of products they should ideally offer for sale nowadays, there are hardly any retailers who can research prices adeqautely themselves.

Our experience is that the price in the retail store can be a little more expensive that the price offered online, but not significantly more. Customers tolerate an extra charge of approx. 5 percent, as they receive the advantages offered by brick and mortar retailers in return, such as e.g. being able to take the product with them straightaway, and benefitting from service and personal advice.

Within the context of our StoreShip Price Challenge, we analyse all prices from leading online suppliers and calculate a realistic sales price for brick and mortar retailers, the StoreShip recommended price. These prices are updated on a daily basis and kept up to date at all times in the brodos.net Kiosk, the Online Kiosk and naturally also in the brodos.net ERP system. End customers realise when comparing prices in store that realistic prices are also offered by brick and mortar retailers and benefit at the same time from all services offered at the PoS. As for the retailers, they receive competitive offers automatically and do not have to work until 5 am keeping prices up to date and running comparisons online.

TO THE GFK STUDY