Shopping 3.0

Citation

Tripathi, S. (2012), "Shopping 3.0", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 455-456. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761211259269

Shopping 3.0 is an engaging book which, as the name suggests, investigates the emerging retailing landscape in a world being revolutionized by the internet. Molenaar examines the world of retailers that has undergone a huge shift in the recent few years. The author highlights the fundamental changes the internet has brought in the way consumers shop. With their supply orientation and transaction based‐approach, retailers do not seem to be geared to face the challenges that the environmental changes are throwing. Molenaar urges the retailers to be sensitive to the changes and to follow an approach which is customer centric.

This book is offered as a sense‐making device, a guidebook to retailers of both kinds, those who have a shop in the physical world as well those having their shops in the virtual internet world. Molenaar offers advice to these shopkeepers on how to plan and design the right strategy for the retailing landscape that might be unrecognizable from the present. The book mixes some in‐depth research, articles from the mainstream media, and real‐world examples with his insights to provide an interesting analysis in simple, easy‐to‐read language.

In the introduction, “Retailers in difficult times”, Molenaar sets the tone of the book, conveying in a candid fashion that retailers are facing tough times. The world around them is changing and they are not able to maintain pace with the emerging changes. Molenaar encourages retailers to evolve and to take up new roles to survive, including a “social role” (p. 4).

Chapter 1, “8 pm in the Evening: How Life has Changed for Retailers”, further elaborates on the theme of challenges to the. The author discusses the changing buying habits where consumers tend to avoid crowds and like to do hassle‐free internet shopping. Shops are becoming impersonal and fail to establish personal rapport with buyers. Molenaar also traces the complexities arising from the interactions between the product brand, the store brand, and private label brands.

In Chapter 2, “A New Way of Shopping: The Role of Customer Experience and Entertainment”, Molenaar emphasizes the role of customer experience and entertainment in the buying process and how they affect retailers. He explains that buying is more than a rational process; it involves lots of emotions. He differentiates between rational and emotional purchases and also between functional and hedonistic shopping. In this chapter the author also introduces the Shopping 3.0 model, wherein he traces the evolution from buying off the shelf (Shopping 1.0) and non‐store retailing (Shopping 2.0) to an environment where buyers are using all channels for information and shopping (Shopping 3.0).

In the third chapter, “Shopping Evolution: How to Adapt to Survive the author examines the theories of evolution and maps out the historical progression in the retailing setting. Molenaar borrows from Quinn's Competing Values Model (p. 85) to illustrate the tradeoff between control and flexibility and why a balance between both is required in a rapidly changing environment. The key takeaway from this chapter is that retailers need to adapt to survive, and for this they may need to go for cross‐channel retailing, focusing on customer relations and integrating technology within buying behavior.

Chapter 4, “Customers want Recognition: Making the Shopping Experience Personal”, suggests that retailers need to establish a “connect” with customers if they are to succeed. Customer recognition is the first step in this process. In this chapter, the author discusses the transition in retailing by specifically looking at the changes in the book retailing business, how internet retailers such as Amazon changed the contours of the business, and currently most of the retailers are cross‐channel retailers who offer different benefits through these two channels.

Chapter 5, “Technology Makes Buying Easy: Integrating Bricks and Mortar with the Internet”, demonstrates that technology has brought radical changes in retail. Several years ago, the impact of technology was on transactions (electronic cash till, computerization, and barcodes), but within a short time it has drastically transformed supply side dynamics (management of the supply chain) and is now affecting demand‐side dynamics through technological inputs in customer relationship management. Molenaar, also talks about the latest changes in the technological domain, and he discusses how a multi channel strategy can be adopted by integrating different channels with the help of technology.

In the concluding sixth chapter, “The future of shopping: Shopping, the Internet or both”, Molenaar says that the future of shopping is a combination of internet‐based shopping as well as physical stores. As per the author, shopping can broadly be divided into three parts (based on the articles that are bought): convenience goods, shopping goods, and luxury goods. Molenaar points out that the role of technology will vary across all the three. He looks at the future and prophecies that there will be a general convergence across the channels and that internet shops will become more physical by incorporating tech inputs whereas physical stores will use technology to offer benefits that are currently only available in a virtual store.

The author does an admirable job of navigating and guiding readers through the maze of the evolving technological landscape. He supplements his observations and analysis with in‐depth research and snippets from the real world to throw the spotlight on the future of shopping.

However, this book is not without its share of sore points. The ride can often be quite bumpy, and the reader may often feel lost as Molenaar changes directions very frequently. Also, at some points, the author uses very broad strokes and may be guilty of overgeneralization or presenting just one perspective in the picture. For example, while talking about shopping experience in online environments, Molenaar says that customers like to be recognized in an online store; however, he ignores the issue of privacy which might be of concern to some buyers.

Though, Shopping 3.0 is primarily aimed at the retailers, the book will definitely interest all those who work in the domain of convergence and integration in retail domain, including those in the technical side of things. The book also has some case studies which will make it attractive to academicians and students who are studying retailing.

A refreshing aspect of the book is the candid tone of the author. Most of the authors who look into the future tend to keep it safe and to cover all the sides so that their prophecies do not go wrong. However, Molenaar does not mince his words when talking about the future; the message is loud and clear: adapt or perish. He says that multi channels will be the way to the future, and he expects the channels to converge so that the boundaries between the online and the physical channels will be blurred.