Selling the Shopping Experience

Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation.

Direct sellers and brick and mortar industry workers feel the competition from online retailers. The internet makes it much easier for customers to find what they are looking for, but at the same time means they may begin staying home more to do their shopping.

Offline industry workers counter online shopping by emphasizing the advantages of purchasing offline instead of online, such as being able to see and touch an item before committing to buying it. Scrapbookers, however, emphasize price. Most likely, this difference is because most of the industry workers in this study were selling products that, for the most part, could be purchased for less money elsewhere. These industry workers worked at selling more than just merchandise—they are selling a pleasant shopping experience. They were and are selling a third space.

Next week, I will discuss the scrapbook shopping experience.

Do you scrapbook shop based on price, shopping experience, or some combination of the two? Join the conversation below or on facebook.

Photo by Sara Grafton. Sara can be found at 1200 Some Miles, @SaraGrafton on Twitter and on Pinterest.

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Stephanie