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A long-standing advantage retailers held over consumers is being eroded by the latest electronic gadgets which have found themselves in people’s pockets and purses. Ten years ago, perhaps even more recently, the shopper generally assumed if a sale advertised a great price, then it must be just that; a great price.
There may have been a small percentage of those shoppers which would have done the necessary research, perusing shopper’s guides, making phone calls and looking online to see if this particular sales price was in fact a good deal. Still, the prevailing behavior was to assume the price was as good as the advertising made it seem.
Smart phones are changing that behavior, now, and it takes very little effort at all to determine where the real good deal can be found. Using the camera on a new smart phone along with a handy, often free application, shoppers can scan the bar code or even take a picture of the product and know within seconds how the competition has that product priced.
Google Shopper, available on most smart phones, will recognize a product either by the bar code or even just a picture of the product and will search the internet for not only online prices, but also local prices relative to the location of the shopper. Suddenly the consumer no longer needs to take anything for granted, and can find out exactly how much the store has marked up the product in question.
For businesses this doesn’t have to be bad news. What it means is the people coming through the door are likely going to be a lot more savvy and aware of the price of the products on the shelves than ever before. A smart store will be aware of this fact and price accordingly, offering shoppers the opportunity to discover a truly low price and the convenience of buying in person.
