Should we shelve point of purchase displays?

I keep scratching my head and stroking my beard to consider whether our basic business of providing merchandising solutions for brands and retailers to sell products at retail is being killed by online buying. Seth Godin got me thinking about it again this morning. Godins blog And I continue to conclude that online is not killing stores.

People still want the tactile experience with some products before buying. Shopping in stores remains a form of entertainment for some people. Some folks like the interactive experience of shopping with others, seeing what's new, working with retail professionals to find just the right gift/outfit/look/wine. Netflix is great but so is redbox. Delivering 5# bags of flour to your local Piggly Wiggly or Kroger in bulk and having YOU bring a bag home as needed still makes logistical and economic sense, too.

Still, there's been a siphoning of resources from in-store and other forms of advertising to invest in social media. Lots of experimenting is happening with tweets and fan pages and the like. This diminished attention has hurt us as an industry. Will it lead to further deterioration of our business model and the importance of retail in the economy? I don't think so but I'm going to continue to pay attention.

Mike Lauber

mrlauber@tuscodisplay.com

http://www.tuscodisplay.com/

www.linkedin.com/in/mikelauber