The point
of yesterday’s post was not to bash retail. There are far many more issues with
retail than I can hope to cover in a few blog posts, and I don’t really care
about retail. It’s just such a good case study for identifying future trends.
The real point I was trying to make is that the knowledge and skills of sales
people are no longer of much value to the consumer, and certainly not worth the
retail premium. Other factors such as the ability to “try before you buy” are
always going to be a factor for some types of retail, but the idea that the
salesperson had some sort of privileged insight into the merchandise is long
gone.
In fact
this particular aspect of retail has changed so much that people don’t even
seem to remember how important sales staff skills used to be to the success of
the retailer. We still occasionally see retailers trying to revive this idea,
but it usually falls on deaf ears. It has certainly been a failure for Dick
Smith and the “Talk to the Techxperts” slogan. You could argue that the Apple Store
has revived this approach, but I think the success of the Apple store has more
to do with the idea that it is a cool place to hang out. The Apple Store sales
staff certainly don’t seem to sell very much.
A bit of
personal history for context. One of my first roles in IT was working in a
computer shop, fixing PCs, writing autoexec .bat and config.sys files, and
selling software. Back in the pre internet era the primary ways a customer
could find out about software and systems was to either read a short review in
a magazine that was a couple of months out of date or to talk to retail sales
staff.
A good
sales person was expected to know the product, and be able to demonstrate it.
In fact the best sales staff owned and used the products they sold. In my job
this was a case of owning a decent computer (a big investment on my pathetic
retail wage), buying the software and using it extensively in my personal time.
Fortunately I loved what I did, so it was no great chore. I was part of the
community, an advocate, a fan, a trusted resource and that is what made a good
sales person.
Now the
retailer holds no monopoly on product knowledge. A consumer can go to MetaCritic
or Amazon to find hundreds of passionate users providing a large range of
opinions. They can go to YouTube to watch video demonstrations, training, hints
and tips, even advice on how to modify, improve or integrate with other
products. And all for free, without any ulterior motives except passion,
interest and a willingness to share. How can even the most dedicated sales
person compete with the wisdom of crowds?
I know many
people will argue that consumers want to talk with real people, and there is an
element of human interaction in the sales process that cannot be replicated on
line. But I would argue this is just
habitual. People who need constant reassurance during the sales process can
seek out forums of like-minded souls, and maybe even chat with the original designers
and inventors. How can the value of a single stranger’s opinion compete with
that, just because you happen to be in the same physical location? On line
communities are real, the interaction is real, the friendships are real, and
they don’t disappear once the cash register has rung.
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