February 19, 2010
By the ZippyCart Ecommerce Software Content Team
CompUSA went out of business in 2007, but now is under new management that is experimenting with a hybrid concept dubbed Retail 2.0, which integrates their ecommerce site into their retail stores. The online shopping experience at an ecommerce site is becoming increasingly comfortable to most consumers, so CompUSA decided to enhance their retail stores with easy access to a retail site via their computers so they can research products. This new way to shop in a retail store, empowers consumers to take control and learn the product details they want quickly by using one of the touch computer screens in the shop. There are roughly 30 CompUSA stores in the U.S. which are testing this Retail 2.0 model, which now takes a lot of stress off of the staff to provide customer service.
Overall this approach is a nice combination of the online and retail world, which consumers may come to expect from other retailers. Best Buy also uses a similar Retail 2.0 format in some of their stores, but it is still not common among most retailers to use this technique. It is a simple, yet low cost, way to give consumers another channel to research products in the store so they can feel they have made the best decision possible. So many consumers have iPhones and other smart phones, that they could easily look up product information while in a retail shop, but if you provide them a closed online experience, they might be more apt to use it to finalize their purchase. However, there are so many products that consumers enjoy buying online, that it will be interesting to see which types of retail businesses succeed, and which ones die because they cannot compete with the ecommerce channel.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
