“Destination Shopping”~ e-retail parallels regular retail

August 3rd, 2007 by Carolyn Gardner

As I sipped my morning coffee today, I read an interesting article in the Ottawa Citizen called: “Retailers find competitors make surprisingly good neighbours”

The article speaks to the time-tested principle that if you’re in the market for retail space, you should look no further than where your competition sits. By setting up shop in the same block as your competitors, you set yourself up for increased sales opportunities. This is especially the case if you’re located near a big brand “anchor” store that draws the crowds in. People will easily find the big brands - thanks to the flyers, radio ads, newspaper ads etc etc etc - and once they park their cars, boom there you are offering similar products with better prices, quality or whatever! Mission accomplished - all because of a smart location that encourages destination shopping.

This got me thinking about e-retailing and you know what? There are definite parallels. Now of course blocks of streets are out BUT blocks of search rankings are in. Think about it. When we shop online, the search engine rankings literally turn into a destination shopping type scenario. We browse through the search rankings just like we would browse through a neighbourhood of specialty stores.

Imagine if you’re looking for contractors to help you with home renovating (like I am in the process of doing=argh). Well once you type in the search criteria, you will be presented a full list of options. You will click through to one - like it, love it or be indifferent. Then out of curiosity because there are other choices right in that same block of listings, you will return to your search findings and click through to the next. And so on, until you find what you’re looking for.

So planning competitive search strategies for e-retailing is much like planning location strategies for regular retailers. Whether it’s a search ranking you need or a geographic location, destination shopping is a reality.

It’s a little bit of traditional thinking mixed with technology, don’t you agree?

Posted in Search Marketing, eCommerce |