I
am more used to brick-and-mortar stores however I love online shopping and
maybe a combination of the both is perfect. Maybe in-store kiosks are good
idea, but are they really a necessity?
I have been reading some posts (specifically this one You May Save a Little with an In-Store Kohl's Kiosk, but is it
Worth it?) about in-store kiosks and since in my country there is a very
scarce possibility to have one, I must rely on my theoretical knowledge on this
particular item.
My personal experience
As an e-business graduate and
(hopefully in near future) master of e-business management, I firmly believe in
the Internet as a tool not only for the consumer market but also for the
business.
Lately, after reading some
articles on online consumerism and my own personal experience got me to think
on the possibility of gaining the benefits on online shopping and offline store
experience.
In my country the closest thing
to an in-store kiosk is an info machine in a super market chain (the machine
that I can’t really associate it with a kiosk is in only one store of the
supermarket chain, at least I have seen only that one). It actually doesn’t
allow online shopping but it gives info on the products you can’t find a price
for, and it does that by bar code scanner. A helpful thing, but I would add
more options to it, if you ask me.
A real-life customer service problem
But what about those stores that
have clothing brands and accessories you wish to try on things and usually the
thing you want is not accessible by size, color or other? Here is where the
in-store kiosk comes in handy.
It would have come in handy especially when a colleague
of mine purchased shoes from a famous clothing store and it turned out that
after the first outdoor walk with the shoes, they dismantled. Of course my colleague
went to replace them, wanting the same shoes again, even if they were too
pricey for my taste. But her size wasn’t available in the store. The only thing
the shop assistant could do was to offer money back or replacement with other
apparel from the store. And after weeks of arguing and making phone calls the
problem is still not solved. They returned the money but the shoes are nowhere
to be found since the store has strict policy of pre-ordering items (they
cannot order them again) and in my country online shopping is still very
limited, having online payment problems and delivery (so the shoes cannot be
ordered online from other of their many stores).
In this case an in-store kiosk
would be very useful but what about the local problems for online payment and
delivery? Also, if there is an online kiosk there would probably be only one in
each store and there would be people in rows waiting to use it. Then, what
stops the people from going home and ordering items online after they have
tried them, or even better, ordering them from their mobile devices on spot?
Conclusion
I believe is the shopping
mentality of the people, they want to do the action in the store from the store’s
devices in order to be closer to the item they want. But in general, the
in-store kiosks are needed, maybe not in all cases but they can do come in handy
for customer service.
What do you think?
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