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Sometimes I wonder why nobody opens a showroom that doesn't sell products, but only shows stuff. (At a fee of course.) But it might cost too much to finance al

Sometimes I wonder why nobody opens a showroom that doesn't sell products, but only shows stuff. (At a fee of course.) But it might cost too much to finance all the products you wish/have to show. Manufactures can help and donate demo gear :)

rogerbinns 11y ago
I predict this will happen with self driving cars. They will very rapidly lead to pay per journey uber style. They will also easily be able to do deliveries (arrive at home when you do, wave phone/enter pin to unlock delivery box). Rather than go to multiple stores, each surrounded by a large car park, it would be more desireable to go to a collection of stores that are colocated, pick out what you want, and have it delivered as you get home so you don't have to carry it around.
TeMPOraL 11y ago
It's called a trade show, and pretty much every type of product has some. I agree that there could be a room between them and shops, i.e. small-scale displays, but at this point why not just let one buy the stuff?
- sanderjd 11y ago
  Trade shows are temporary. The advantage of a permanent showroom is that people know they can always go look at things right now. > why not just let one buy the stuff? Because then the store needs inventory, and all the overhead that entails. It is much cheaper to keep a single copy of everything. But the perhaps bigger issue is one of incentives. I hate that when I'm at Best Buy looking at things, I know I'm being an annoying "showroomer", rather than a customer doing the correct and desired thing. Removing on-site sales from the equation aligns the incentives. Now the showroom will want to do whatever they can to make it easier for me to buy online, so that they get credit (and presumably commission) for the sale. Instead of trickery to confuse object recognition apps, maybe they'll make a really good augmented reality app that makes it stupidly easy to one-click order the exact thing they're looking at.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    Thanks, you wrote some good points I haven't considered. You've actually convinced me and now I wish for a permanent showroom too. I wonder, maybe electronics stores will slowly evolve towards that? Order on-line and pick up at store is already a thing, and the second part of the equation would be just a streamlined mobile buying experience.
Yhippa 11y ago
This was attemped in the past to a lesser degree. Best Products (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Products#Retail_concept https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Products#Retail_concept) and Service Merchandise(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise#Showroom_ordering_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise#Showroom_o...) are the two I tried when I was younger.

rogerbinns 11y ago

I predict this will happen with self driving cars. They will very rapidly lead to pay per journey uber style. They will also easily be able to do deliveries (arrive at home when you do, wave phone/enter pin to unlock delivery box). Rather than go to multiple stores, each surrounded by a large car park, it would be more desireable to go to a collection of stores that are colocated, pick out what you want, and have it delivered as you get home so you don't have to carry it around.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

It's called a trade show, and pretty much every type of product has some. I agree that there could be a room between them and shops, i.e. small-scale displays, but at this point why not just let one buy the stuff?

sanderjd 11y ago
Trade shows are temporary. The advantage of a permanent showroom is that people know they can always go look at things right now. > why not just let one buy the stuff? Because then the store needs inventory, and all the overhead that entails. It is much cheaper to keep a single copy of everything. But the perhaps bigger issue is one of incentives. I hate that when I'm at Best Buy looking at things, I know I'm being an annoying "showroomer", rather than a customer doing the correct and desired thing. Removing on-site sales from the equation aligns the incentives. Now the showroom will want to do whatever they can to make it easier for me to buy online, so that they get credit (and presumably commission) for the sale. Instead of trickery to confuse object recognition apps, maybe they'll make a really good augmented reality app that makes it stupidly easy to one-click order the exact thing they're looking at.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Thanks, you wrote some good points I haven't considered. You've actually convinced me and now I wish for a permanent showroom too. I wonder, maybe electronics stores will slowly evolve towards that? Order on-line and pick up at store is already a thing, and the second part of the equation would be just a streamlined mobile buying experience.

Yhippa 11y ago

This was attemped in the past to a lesser degree. Best Products (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Products#Retail_concept https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Products#Retail_concept) and Service Merchandise(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise#Showroom_ordering_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise#Showroom_o...) are the two I tried when I was younger.