I bought a new television…
It’s been two weeks since my living room television has been showing some signs of tiredness.
It started to get distorted colours and blurred image. In other words, it means that the device, which obviously has its own will, began to show the symptoms of the disease just when I was watching the last episode of a series that I’ve been following lately. Clearly, the “machine” did it just to annoy me. Or it just wanted to say goodbye in style.
In fact, after two weeks feeling annoyed – and simultaneously considering the advices of some friends, as experts as me at this subject, alerting me to the “announced death” of the television – I decided to start looking for a new device.
The purchase of my previous television, in the distant year of 2010, was made in a specialty store, which was located near my house (I say “was” because a few years ago it closed).
The purchasing process was “normal”: At the store, I was assisted by a man, who informed me about many alternatives available to me within the budget I indicated him, showing me several devices that were displayed on the shelf of the store. I ended up selecting one of them, the one that at the time seemed to be the most appropriate in terms of quality/price ratio. The television lasted seven years without problems, which I consider acceptable.
In 2017 everything was different from 2010. This time I didn’t go to a physical store. I went to Google and searched for “Smart TV”. This simple search allowed me to access different useful information, namely: a) several practical advices on how to do the best choice; b) where to find the best price according to the device chosen.
For example, my dear friend reader: do you know the ideal screen size for your living room? I must confess I didn’t know. Now I know that there is a matching table, which relates the size of the screen to our distance from the television. So I took this useful information into account when I made the purchase. I’m not and I don’t want to be an expert in consumer electronics, but this technical information was extremely useful to me and influenced positively my purchasing process. As a buyer I want, above all, simple, useful, and clear information that help me to make the best choice.
After the technical research and the choice of the model I wanted, I started the second phase of the process: the price. I went back to Google and searched for the brand and model I had chosen.
Quickly, I got information about the selling prices of various resellers. I chose the best price, which included home delivery service.
I shared this experience with you, dear reader, since you probably are experiencing the same changing process. Analysing the two purchase processes, seven years actually represent a huge difference.
The paradigm has changed and very quickly the retail market is changing too. In most cases, having a huge network of physical stores is no longer synonymous of creating value for customers. Take the example of Toys R’US, which recently fall into bankruptcy.
This business model seems to be on borrowed time. Could someone imagine this scenario a few years ago?
If you work in retail industry, let me give you an advice: be aware of this process of deep changes, because your business/company may be at risk.
See you soon!
Marco Libório
CEO of UWU Solutions / Consultant / Teacher