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  • bjbj Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor and Kevin Graff from GraffTV discuss bricks and mortar

  • retailers, the effects of mobile shopping and in particular the Amazon price matching

  • app. Bob: Amazon is going to be the death of a lot of independent retailers that are

  • here at the NRF show. And I think a lot of these people don't realize how quick that

  • little price check app is going to hasten the demise of a lot of chains. That's because

  • the most expensive products are the very ones that people are going to check on. So, the

  • most profitable items you have in your store are the ones are that are going to be scanned.

  • I'm not talking about a little widget for four bucks down at the Five and Dime, I mean

  • the really expensive stuff, consumer electronics or those kind of things. That's my point.

  • Kevin: Well, interesting perspective, and I'm not so sure that I could disagree more

  • than with anything that you just said. Bob: Perfect. Kevin: I mean, I think there's some

  • truth to what you're saying, as there always is, but I think common sense and history tells

  • us that we will be just fine as we go through this. I think what Amazon is doing, and it's

  • not just what Amazon is doing, it's what everybody's doing around this show with mobile and social

  • this, and connect to that, and e-com that's been around now for a little while. It keeps

  • advancing and it keeps growing in terms of significance, but look, retailers adapted.

  • If nothing else, retail is a survivor. We've survived the arrival of the mall. We survived

  • the arrival of big box retail. Bob: I'm not that old, but OK. Kevin: Do you remember the

  • invention of the cash register? Monumental shift in how we did things. Bob: I don't think

  • that's the same because then it was just there for your four walls, and now, here for your

  • four walls, Amazon accounts for 20% of all purchases online. That is huge; that is globally

  • what they do. Kevin: 20% of all purchases online, but not 20% of all retail purchases.

  • Bob: Well, that's the whole point though, is that it is so trusted that they, by default,

  • become the trusted player. Kevin: Are you going to scan me to see what you can get me

  • for online? Bob: It's only pennies, folks at home. You can check that out, Graff Retail

  • TV. Kevin: But if it's what this is going to do, and this is the good news. The reason

  • I'm happy to see things like Amazon's price check come out in mobile and all of its different

  • formations come out, is because from a consumer's point of view, and we're all consumers first

  • and foremost, what it drives is a better shopping experience period. Bob: Really? Kevin: Absolutely.

  • Bob: How do you see that? Kevin: Well, think about this. Every time, I'm up in Canada,

  • I always say the best thing that ever happened to Canadian retail was the arrival of Walmart.

  • Walmart arrived in Canada in 1994. Bob: Made everybody up their game. Kevin: Everybody

  • had to up their game, but we took a look at the retailers that were most threatened by

  • them, retailers like Canadian Tire. If you saw what they were then to what they are now,

  • it's a classic example of what's going to happen inside. So, is there going to be some

  • shake-out? Yeah, there'll be some shake-out, honest, but there's always shake-out. At the

  • end of the day, the consumer wins. Bob: But retail, we just heard today, is responsible

  • for one in four jobs in America. Kevin: Absolutely. Bob: So, if we took a hit of, let's say, 20%

  • of people go mobile or something, into this one player... Kevin: Right. Well, we re-allocate

  • those jobs obviously. I'm thinking somebody's doing all this programming and picking and

  • packing... Bob: Doesn't take it, doesn't take that many people. Here's my thing. Kevin:

  • I'm not the economist on this, Bob. Bob: Here's my thing. So there you are, you're our number

  • one sales person for widgets. Kevin: Right. Bob: OK, you're working with Bryan over here

  • and he's working with widget central and you're the number one guy, you're a commission-based

  • guy. You finish the sale and you're like, "Great, I'll take it," and he says, "Wait

  • a minute, let me just get out my scanner." He scans it... Kevin: Absolutely. Bob: He

  • finds he can get it for $300 less, throws it in your face and says, "Are you going to

  • match price?" Kevin: Absolutely. Bob: So, a lot of debate is going to be about this

  • because right, a lot of retailers will say. "Well, we will match." Kevin: Absolutely.

  • Bob: So, how often can you do that? Kevin: Now, it will be policy driven at that stage

  • of the game. Bob: And what does this guy want to do? Does he want to work in that environment

  • still? Kevin: Well, see, and that's the thing that changes it. So now, how does a retailer

  • evolve against that? And you see it out there right now but in different formations where

  • one retailer will sell one item for one price, another one will sell that same item for a

  • completely different price in town, and still sell lots of it. Case in point, take Bob:

  • But you have to go there. That's my point. Kevin: Think about it. Go into the mall, you

  • can buy a pair of Levi's jeans, right, at Walmart, $5 cheaper than at the Levi store

  • in the mall, but the Levi store in the mall still sells hundreds and hundreds of jeans

  • at $5 more. Why? Because they give you something more that you can't get at the Walmart store.

  • Bob: I'm totally with you. Kevin: That s what happens with retail. Bob: But when I'm in

  • that "something more" Levi's store, and I'm in it. I had that experience and gosh, they

  • loved me, and I know Cary.. . Kevin: Absolutely. Bob: She's so wonderful, and she does it,

  • and then I go, well I think about it, and I scan it and scan it and scan it, and it's

  • free shipping and returns. That's what I'm saying... Kevin: And is it a game changer?

  • Yeah, it's a game changer. Bob: It's a huge game changer though. Kevin: What's rule number

  • one, and I know you say this to all your clients out there. You're not going to be all things

  • to all people. Bob: Absolutely not. Kevin: There is going to be that bottom feeder that's

  • going to look for that lowest of lowest of lowest price out there. I get that. Absolutely.

  • Bob: Tell me you're not going to be a bottom feeder. Kevin: You're the guy that crusades

  • against Groupon all the time, are you not? Bob: That was another discussion which we'll

  • have up here, too. Kevin: But not everybody is going to be that bottom feeder, when you

  • look at how this shapes out. Bob: But that's not a bottom feeder. If you and I were going

  • to buy a plasma TV, and we had a great experience at Best Buy. You cannot tell me you would

  • not be curious with that $3,000 system, you would not be curious what Amazon was. Kevin:

  • Absolutely, but at Best Buy they're also going to show me the best way to be able to install

  • it. Bob: They should do it. Kevin: Or they're going to provide an educational component

  • to that, and I can't get all of that online. That's the differentiating factor. You're

  • not wrong, this is going to be challenging. Bob: Well, and you're not wrong either. This

  • is the debate. This is why we wanted to have this debate is because this is what we're

  • not hearing in a lot of the booths here, right? We're hearing that if you've got a tablet,

  • baby, everything's great. Kevin: Absolutely. Bob: You're going to be fine. If you've got

  • a virtual wallet, if you have a little app, everything's great, and you and I both, because

  • Kevin and I are very similar personalities in that we both think it's about the person,

  • the humanity... Kevin: Absolutely. Bob: ...that moment that somebody walks into your store.

  • Kevin: That's what we're probably not seeing enough of around here. It kind of gets lost

  • in the noise of all this technology and all this IT, and this is all really great, and

  • I think it's all really cool, and it's important. I'm not here to say that's not important.

  • I'm not living under a rock in the past, but what I do recognize is that we're just going

  • to continue to find better ways in retail to represent it. If we want to be bricks and

  • mortar retailers, we've got to start creating better shopping experiences in there, and

  • that's going to come by adopting some of this technology inside the stores. Bob: With the

  • employees though, not instead of them. That's my thing. Kevin: Exactly, but there's going

  • to be some stuff that we're going to do in the absence of employees that's going to make

  • the shopping experience better, but I'll tell you, everybody's going to step up their game

  • from an employee perspective. So whether it's staff coverage, whether it's staff ability,

  • whether it's staff knowledge, all that's going to pick up. If traffic counts are going to

  • go down into your store, you better get your conversion rates up and you better get your

  • average sale up. Bob: Because the people that really want to be there, really want to be

  • in your store. Kevin: Absolutely, and the fastest way to be able to do that growth in

  • your business is going to come through your staff. Get them off their butt, get them waiting

  • on some customers, teach them a little bit more, teach them how to sell, teach them how

  • to drive. Bob: And hire them better, to start with. Kevin: Right. Bob: But they really need

  • to enjoy going in there and meeting another person. Kevin: Yeah. Bob: That's kind of shocking.

  • Kevin: Why would you want to work in retail, if you didn't, right? Bob: I think that's

  • great. That's a great place for us to end. [Content_Types].xml u$Nw @8Jb _rels/.rels

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  • folHlink="folHlink"/> Bob: Hi Nancy V Burns Normal.dotm Bob Phibbs Microsoft Macintosh

  • Word Bob: Hi Title Microsoft Word 97-2004 Document NB6W Word.Document.8

bjbj Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor and Kevin Graff from GraffTV discuss bricks and mortar

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