Shopping is a short trip these days. From the dining table to the desk or from the bedroom to the living room. Wherever the laptop is currently parked. Online shopping is more than just convenient because you can do it in your pyjamas, it is also fast and provides an unbeatable selection, endless possibilities to compare, a huge number of product reviews – in fact, it’s not even necessary to list all of the advantages to brick-and-mortar businesses. Everyone knows them because everyone uses them. What doesn’t change is that, once in a while, we need to find our way back to the real world. For retailers this means too little; they need often, constantly or even preferably.
Shopping in actual shops needs to become an emotional experience with clear added value for customers.
Moving the POS to the POC is a solution to the dilemma. Point of Sale becomes Point of Communication. Shopping becomes an emotional experience. Personality is more important than variety; differentiation more exciting than abundant selection. Max Celko and Sven Gábor Jánszky from the German think tank “2b.AHEAD” emphasise exactly that in their market survey “Die Zukunft des stationären Handels“ [Future of Stationary Retail] from 2014: “Retailers must see themselves as a social platform and provide customers with a possibility to experience brands and be part of the context themselves.” In other words, proper communication on multiple channels and provide consumers with added value in the process. It’s about a smart connection of online and offline that functions well when felt.
