Monday, December 30, 2013

Discovering the Homes-up.com Store Concept : When Showrooming Is Pushed To Its Extreme



French magazine LSA is publishing a series of articles about retailers all around the world that masters cross channel retailing (Internet – point of sales). One ofthe them got my attention: homes-up.com.

Homes-up.com is mostly an online retailer, but own a boutique in Shangai. The concept is that it is a 100% showroom store, where the different products the company sells are displayed. In order to get those products, the company have 2 computers in the middle of the store, for the shoppers to order the goods he wants. Then they will be delivered home.

LSA considers that it is a pity the store does not propose to purchase the products and hence to take them out with you. I actually don’t think so. We may have a consumption that showrooming is bad for business, and that it is important to find new ways to generate both squarefoot sales, and in store profitability.

But actually, homes-up.com is defining a totally new business model. A business model I envisioned years ago. This model has a lot of strength:
  • ·         You maximize the display room, as there are no stocks.
  • ·         You have very low wages costs, as you don’t cash in (either by mobile devices or the computers of the company). And same thing, you save space as there is no cashier desk.
  • ·         Your salesperson can focus on advising, and can be stress free concerning the fact that the customer is going to indeed purchase the goods online.


This is a new business model that I am sure will spring up in the next couple of years.