Consumption Junction

Shoppers aren’t too concerned with getting items at a low price. Instead, they’re looking for “superior quality products”—something consumers are increasingly prioritizing when looking to purchase.

[T]he holiday season means more sales — yay! But what’s not cool is that the general increase in shopping means an increase in everything that goes with it — as in more people contacting to ask for your “very best price” and “lower shipping costs”.

Yes, we all want deals; but it’s time to be real.

Last year it was showrooming – the practice of checking out merchandise in a store, then ordering it online, usually from some place else.

Retailers hate that and geared up this holiday season to try and counter it with aggressive online deals of their own. But consumers are on to a new trend – webrooming – according to a new survey from Harris Interactive.

Webrooming is just the reverse. A consumer will use a desktop or mobile device at home to check out deals, then head for the store to make the purchase.

Mobile devices have made it possible for people to shop anywhere, anytime, and apparently, they’re taking advantage. According to Millward Brown Digital, people who shop from their mobiles visit more retailer sites than those who shop from their PCs (6.2 retailer visits per month on mobiles versus 2.9 on PCs). Mobile shoppers also use search engines and social media sites more than PC shoppers do. With all that opportunity to capture mobile purchases (or lose them to rivals), there’s all the more reason for retailers to make sure their mobile strategy is airtight.

Nifti, a Boston startup offering a shopping service which helps consumers track product discounts, said Thursday it's raised $800,000 in seed funding led by Google Ventures and Otto Capital.

...Nifti "lets shoppers follow any product they find on any website, and then notifies them when these items drop to the price they want to pay," the startup said in a news release.

The Roman gold pendant in the shape of a phallus that was discovered in 2011 in Hillington, Norfolk, has become such a popular exhibit at the Lynn Museum that replicas will be sold at the gift shop.

As of the first of February, this store will be charging people a $5 fee per person for “just looking.”

The $5 fee will be deducted when goods are purchased.

Why has this come about?

There has been high volume of people who use this store as a reference and then purchase goods elsewhere. These people are unaware our prices are almost the same as the other stores plus we have products simply not available anywhere else.

This policy is line with many other clothing, shoe and electronic stores who are also facing the same issue.