Good Idea Or Bad Idea

[Steve Williams]

Stores Charges Customers $5 'Just Looking' Fee to Combat Showrooming

By Kim Bhasin | Business Insider

There's a store in Australia that really hates it when its customers walk around the store without buying anything.
Redditor BarrettFox posted a pic of a sign informing shoppers of a new fee at a specialty food store in Brisbane.
It's $5 for "just looking."
The fee exists to stop people from "showrooming" — which occurs when a customer looks at items in a physical store, then makes the purchase online.
The sign assures that you'll have the five dollars deducted from the final purchase price, so you'll get your money back if you buy something.
Here's what the sign says:
As of the first of February, this store will be charging people a $5 fee per person for “just looking.”
The $5 fee will be deducted when goods are purchased.
Why has this come about?
There has been high volume of people who use this store as a reference and then purchase goods elsewhere. These people are unaware our prices are almost the same as the other stores plus we have products simply not available anywhere else.
This policy is line with many other clothing, shoe and electronic stores who are also facing the same issue.
Management
The policy is being ripped apart unanimously.
"It has to be the most misguided strategy we've seen for dealing with showrooming," wrote Matt Brownell at Daily Finance. "The goal of any retailer should be to impress customers with competitive pricing and great customer service — not treat their customers with suspicion and hostility from the moment they walk in the door."
"If customers aren’t buying, the seller needs to figure out why and adapt accordingly," wrote Chris Morran at The Consumerist. "If this store’s prices are truly the best, then maybe it should be offering a price-match guarantee. If it truly offers products that aren’t available elsewhere, then how are these showrooming shoppers buying these items from someone else?"
The commenters in the Reddit thread were more straightforward.
"This store seems desperate to go out of business," quipped one commenter.
"If it was me, I'd say 'Screw you.' and not give them a dime, walk out and refuse them any future business," wrote another. " They are asking to go out of business."
And those were the polite ones.

 

[edorr]

Stores Charges Customers $5 'Just Looking' Fee to Combat Showrooming

By Kim Bhasin | Business Insider

There's a store in Australia that really hates it when its customers walk around the store without buying anything.
Redditor BarrettFox posted a pic of a sign informing shoppers of a new fee at a specialty food store in Brisbane.
It's $5 for "just looking."
The fee exists to stop people from "showrooming" — which occurs when a customer looks at items in a physical store, then makes the purchase online.
The sign assures that you'll have the five dollars deducted from the final purchase price, so you'll get your money back if you buy something.
Here's what the sign says:
As of the first of February, this store will be charging people a $5 fee per person for “just looking.”
The $5 fee will be deducted when goods are purchased.
Why has this come about?
There has been high volume of people who use this store as a reference and then purchase goods elsewhere. These people are unaware our prices are almost the same as the other stores plus we have products simply not available anywhere else.
This policy is line with many other clothing, shoe and electronic stores who are also facing the same issue.
Management
The policy is being ripped apart unanimously.
"It has to be the most misguided strategy we've seen for dealing with showrooming," wrote Matt Brownell at Daily Finance. "The goal of any retailer should be to impress customers with competitive pricing and great customer service — not treat their customers with suspicion and hostility from the moment they walk in the door."
"If customers aren’t buying, the seller needs to figure out why and adapt accordingly," wrote Chris Morran at The Consumerist. "If this store’s prices are truly the best, then maybe it should be offering a price-match guarantee. If it truly offers products that aren’t available elsewhere, then how are these showrooming shoppers buying these items from someone else?"
The commenters in the Reddit thread were more straightforward.
"This store seems desperate to go out of business," quipped one commenter.
"If it was me, I'd say 'Screw you.' and not give them a dime, walk out and refuse them any future business," wrote another. " They are asking to go out of business."
And those were the polite ones.

I understand the thinking, but bad business decision. People will be avoiding the store like the plague.

 

[Steve Williams]

I agree. Interesting concept but doomed for failure

 

[GaryProtein]

I agree. Interesting concept but doomed for failure

The tire kickers won't like it, but genuine buyers won't care. If you go to a store with intention of actually buying something, what difference does it make?

I feel bad for shop owners who invest in a brick and mortar store, stock it and have people come in to touch and feel various goods, only to buy them online for less and not necessarily save money because now they are paying for shipping. I would have no problem visiting a store with that kind of policy.

I have know several stores near me that have lost business of gone out of business because of showrooming.

 

[Orb]

The genuine buyer thought may be concerned with "what if I go into the store and they do not have what I want", or a genuine buyer who just is not sure what it is they need to buy and could be put off that once in they must make a decision.
Plenty of angles that this comes back to bite the business, although I have sympathy for all street stores in this day and age and why I try to buy from them when I can.

Cheers
Orb

 

[cjfrbw]

I have found that people become most righteous, indignant, and combative over petty amounts of money. They will flip out hundreds or even thousands without thinking too much, but will fight over a few dollars fairly relentlessly. It must have something to do with psychologic scaling, where they can see some kind of territorial dispute over small amounts, but the higher amounts camouflage themselves.

The best way to avoid conflicts is not to get petty about petty amounts of money.

 

[Steve Williams]

I have found that people become most righteous, indignant, and combative over petty amounts of money. They will flip out hundreds or even thousands without thinking too much, but will fight over a few dollars fairly relentlessly. It must have something to do with psychologic scaling, where they can see some kind of territorial dispute over small amounts, but the higher amounts camouflage themselves.

The best way to avoid conflicts is not to get petty about petty amounts of money.

Sort of reminds me of my mother-in-law who drives over 20 miles to Costco to save $0.04/ gallon of gas for a total saving of less than one dollar

 

[treitz3]

Playing a devil's advocate here.....I guess it all depends on the location, clientele and the crime in the area. There may be more to this story then we are aware of. If people steal things in that area [or that store] on a consistent basis, it may save them more than the amount lost by customers who are offended by the policy. Especially if many of the items run into the hundreds of dollars. Poor people and bums most likely won't risk spending 5 dollars just to enter the store when they can go elsewhere and get a bottle or a fix for 5 dollars, for example.

Tom

 

[Mosin]

I agree withcjfrbw. I know guys who may give you a $1,000 item on a whim, but try charging them five bucks too much for shipping charges on an Audiogon deal. See what happens.

 

[opus111]

The tire kickers won't like it, but genuine buyers won't care. If you go to a store with intention of actually buying something, what difference does it make?

You lost me with this reasoning. My own intention to buy by no means guarantees they'll have what I want at a price and delivery terms which I consider reasonable. I'd avoid this store too.

On reflection, by charging what's in effect an entrance fee, it has become a museum.

 

[amirm]

As they say, you can't unring a bell. Once something is free, you can't start charging for it without everyone doing it.

It does take a lot of effort to not "showroom." We bought a very expensive rice maker from a local place. They had it in stock and showed it to us. Quick check on my phone showed Amazon price to be much lower. But I did not think it was fair to buy it online and bought it from the store. Nice thing was taking it home and making rice an hour later .