Friday, March 18, 2011

Shopping in the Future
When email first came out, I can remember the discussions about becoming a paperless society. While email has certainly had its impact, we are far from paperless. So, when I read the article, "What's In-Store for the Future," I thought to myself, stores are not going away.

Years ago, when the Internet first arrived, I was leery of online purchasing. I'd view a store's Internet site, found items I liked, and hopefully could find it at their local store. I eventually became confident of online shopping and enjoyed the convenience. But, online shopping just wasn't the same. There's certainly no substitute to the availability of touching, feeling, and trying on clothes immediately. Shopping is an enjoyable experience. As the article indicates, "at its core, shopping has much less to do with economic need and a lot more with human gratification." The gathering of friends to take a trip to the mall, listen to the music, and smell the perfume is a great, social activity and stores are all about enhancing this customer experience.

What is the future of shopping? According to this article, stores will become more about marketing. They will be less about simply selling products and "more like interactive galleries, showrooms and workshops - places where consumers can have aesthetic, visceral, and emotional experience with the brand." F.C. Dadson helps create those sights, sounds, and excitement of stores by creating, constructing, fulfilling and installing brand environments. Visit http://www.fcdadson.com/ and see for yourself.
I met so many great people at the Franchise Finance Conference, March 8-9 in Las Vegas. I appreciate your friendship and look forward to connecting again. If you missed me at the conference, don't worry. You can find out all about F.C. Dadson's turnkey, interior build-out program by giving me a call at (920) 757-1486 x 123.

Marie VanDrisse
Executive National Account Manager