What do you get when online and IRL shopping have a baby, but the kid comes out with unexpected traits? A showroom store.
Like traditional shopping, customers physically visit a store but might not be able to try on clothes or take goods home that day. Like online shopping, customers check themselves out by kiosk or app and the clothes are shipped next-day.
Such was the case at the Zappos holiday pop-up shop in the old Western casino, where Downtown startup ShopWithMe debuted its self-serve checkout kiosk and app in December. “In the majority of the store, you can’t take the product with you,” ShopWithMe CEO Jonathan Jenkins says. “We were wondering whether consumers would go for that. We were very surprised that they were happy with that experience.”
Though showroom stores seem to remove the instant gratification of in-person shopping and the stay-at-home convenience of online shopping, it doesn’t have to be that way. In other scenarios, customers could try on clothing and take purchases home that day, or could shop directly from the app.
ShopWithMe’s point-of-sale system is intended to reduce in-store inventory, expand in-store sales and offer more colors and sizes to customers regardless of products being in stock. “I think you’re going to see this a lot more in the future,” Jenkins says.
