Charging Customers for Browsing Doesn't Lead to Conversions

As I was looking for a new direction to guide my posts, an article popped up on reddit that gave me the orientation I needed.  The article is about a clothing store in Australia that posted a notice telling their customers they were going to be charged if the walked in and didn't buy anything.  It is labeled as just looking fee set at $5.

You can find discussions here, here and here.

I find these articles interesting because it often opens up numerous discussions on all kinds of topics but what I find most interesting is the question of why.  The answer is often a response to the discussion of the symptom rather than the needed discussion to a larger solution.

The real question is and should be, "Does this tactic lead to the goal?"  Presumably the goal of the store is to drive orders.  Does this tactic lead to more orders or less?  I would have to assume the latter which is terrible at best.

That said, the new purpose of this blog is to discuss the various marketing tactics that are seen in the media, news outlets and elsewhere and to discuss the good and bad points as well as other options.  Discussing the why and understanding what the goals are and how these tactics align to the goals is fascinating to me.  It gives you an inside view of how the company thinks and how the meetings go behind closed doors.

If they are seeing high traffic and low conversion, that tells me that pricing is a potential issue along with product assortment.  One of the comments from the reddit thread says that you can find the same items in the store as you can at local supermarkets. As products become more commoditized, stores will have to be more creative with their offerings to differentiate.

If you can't differentiate on price, you may have to differentiate on customer service and satisfaction.  Or create a unique shopping experience.  These are no cost or low cost tactics that can often lead to larger gains.  Starbucks for example relies on the experience.  Their coffee is, relatively, very expensive but people come back because of the experience.

It takes a lot of effort, however, to put these in place so maybe this is an issue of motivation?  I'm not sure but it's an interesting response nonetheless.

With all of that, what do you, the yet to be determined reader, think of all of this?  Good tactic? Bad tactic?  Are there other options to combat "showrooming"?