BC Business
Big-box retailers dyingBig-box retailers like Wal-Mart will likely suffer at the hands of consumers' new "showrooming" trend.
The big-box store almost killed the local, main-street retailer, and now online retailers are threatening to do the same to the big-box store. Are jumbo stores the next victim of retail evolution? About four years ago I wrote about how big-box store Canadian Tire was shutting down the e-commerce function of its website because people were using it to research items and then buy them in a physical store. My, how things have changed.
Big-box retailers dyingBig-box retailers like Wal-Mart will likely suffer at the hands of consumers’ new “showrooming” trend.
About four years ago I wrote about how big-box store Canadian Tire was shutting down the e-commerce function of its website because people were using it to research items and then buy them in a physical store.
My, how things have changed.
Now, it seems, big-box stores face the opposite dilemma: people are using the stores to research items and then buying them online on sites like Amazon, where they are cheaper. The trend is called “showrooming” and it’s probably going to change the face of retail, especially in the U.S. No doubt we’ll see it up here soon, since we’re generally always a couple of years behind the U.S. in most trends.
Only about 15 to 20 per cent of big-box stores’ customers take part in showrooming, say analysts, but the trend is growing. It’s particularly strong in consumer electronics, such as at Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
Of course we’re all familiar with Best Buy here in B.C. The consumer electronics giant expanded into Canada by buying up Vancouver-based chain Future Shop, and is now one of the largest electronics retailers in the country.
So far, showrooming doesn’t seem to have affected Best Buy in Canada, but it certainly has Best Buy – as well as other big retail chains like Wal-Mart – in the U.S. frightened, especially as the hot Thanksgiving-Christmas retail season nears.
Retail chains are fighting the trend by providing better in-store service or price matching the online retailers. But many say it’s a losing battle and the death of big-box stores is inevitable. How can they compete on price when they have expensive buildings and stores to maintain?
Maybe they are right, but I don’t think it will happen soon. So far, showrooming seems to be mostly confined to consumer electronics, which is why Best Buy and Wal-Mart are hurting. Electronics are obvious for this kind of thing. One smartphone is the same as the next, so of course people will buy it wherever they can get the cheapest price.
But I do agree, the retail landscape will undergo dramatic change eventually. It’s just a question of when.