Amazon.com have just launched a new marketing initiative which has got “bricks and mortar” retailers up in arms. The Managing Director of Waterstones, the UK bookstore has called it “a ruthless money making devil”. The cause of all the furore is a new price check app that Amazon has launched which allows I phone and android tablet owners to carry out an in store price check on any items.
To carry out a price check all they have to do is scan the item bar code into there phone or i Pad Amazon.com will then offer a $5 discount to shoppers who carry out this market research for it for free, on any item across the site, including the same item they wanted to buy in the first place.
Is the high street dieing?
In the current economic climate most US and UK retailers are finding it hard going. Customers are tending to be spending far less and are unwilling to increase the debts on their credit cards. This has brought about a new era of price awareness which is making it difficult for many retailers. This is especially true for the small local specialist shops such as book or gift shops who find their business challenge not only by the big out of town superstore but allso the Internet.
The question that has to be asked is there a long term future Main Street retailers. Currentluy in the UK there are nearly 15% of High Street retail premises vacant and that figure is growing all the time. For this reason alone it would have to be a brave person who would launch a new shop in the current climate. Napolean Bonapart once described the UK as a nation of shop keepers but that is no longer tre.
The obvious answer for anyone who wants to start any type of retail business now is to look towards the Internet. If you can not beat them, join them. Set up your own online marketing business. Compared with the cost of buying or renting a shop, paying for staff and utilities thwe start up costs are minimal. You can also start up whilst keeping your regular job which is not so easy if you run a offline store.
Some people see Amazon as an unstopable machine and they may be right and if they are surely it is betting to go with theflow rather than fight it. You can sell your own items such as books through Amazon or become an affiliate and gain commission on any sales that you achieve.
Whehter Amazon are being fair to offline businesses or not is a question that can be arqued. However, there is nothing we as individuals can do about it so surely it is better to advantage of the opportunites that are available than mourn for the ones that are gone.
