If you want to buy a running shoe from Petar Punjek, you should better bring time. Footprint, mobility check, running analysis using a video recording. A few questions in between. Only then will shoes be tried on, says Punjek.
Punjek is a branch manager of a running sports specialist shop in downtown Karlsruhe. He invests a lot of time in advising potential customers. At least 30 minutes, rather longer, says Punjek. The hobby runner is happy to pass on his knowledge. But one thing annoys the 51-year-old. When people get advice from him and then buy their shoes online elsewhere.
This behavior is not new in the trade industry. The phenomenon is referred to as the “advisory nation”. About every third consumer in Germany has already been advised in stationary trade and then bought the corresponding product online after a price comparison. This emerges from a representative, online YouGov survey on behalf of the German Press Agency.
“Good advice has your value”
Dealer Punjek says the cases have accumulated in the past few months. He therefore hung a poster next to the front door of the shop. “Good advice has your value,” it says. And: “Unfortunately, we are increasingly observing that customers take photos after detailed advice and then order the shoes online.” Price comparisons are a matter of course today, but if everyone only bought online, there will soon be no more specialist shops. A crossed -out camera can also be seen on the poster.
The Commercial Association of Germany (HDE) has no data about the recent years for the advisory claw, says general manager Stefan Genth. “When I invest a lot of money as a stationary retailer in the shop rent and in competent staff, it is of course very painful if the customer only tap the advice inside and then go shopping online with other providers,” says Genth.
HDE: Customer: Inside, decide where you want to shop
As great as the pain is in every individual case, the reverse phenomenon is more common, Genth said. Customers: Interior informed themselves online and then bought on site. “Customers: inside decide where they find out and where they want to shop,” says Genth. That is the basis of free and fair competition. There are good offers not only on the Internet, but also in the local shops.
Many dealers: According to Genth, the inside has long been on all channels. It is about offering the customer: online and on -site shops. Best in an intelligent link from online and offline world. “If customers wander: inside, it is important to convince them of their own and to regain them,” said the HDE general manager.
What is announced: inside is important next to the price
The Internet ensures an enormously high price transparency and constant comparability. “This puts pressure on the trading companies,” says Genth. However, the price alone is not always crucial. Many customers: Inside, the product quality, service and advice also weighted very high.
According to YouGov survey, people in Germany also see it rather critically to use advice in inpatient trade and then buy the corresponding product online. Almost half of the respondents refuse such behavior entirely (21 percent) or rather (25 percent). However, five percent of the respondents entirely support it, nine percent rather support it. Undecided (answer: “partly / partly”) was 34 percent.
Economically, the damage to his business is difficult to measure, says Punjek. He assumes about ten percent of the customers: inside who are advised and provided with knowledge, but then do not buy from him. “My time is extremely precious,” says Punjek. The current note should sensitize and not scare it off. That also worked, says Punjek. He would like them to play with open cards, he says. Ultimately, this has to do with morality.