Retailers worry that Amazon app undercuts them, but they needn’t fear

The latest development in the increasingly competitive online shopping vs. high street store battle has come to fruition via Amazon.com, which is now offering an app for comparing prices to be used by customers whilst shopping in high street stores.

By using their mobile phones, consumers simply have to scan an item’s barcode, and the Amazon app will then run searches to find out if the item is available cheaper elsewhere. As a further incentive, the North American website is also offering customers who use the Prick Check app a $15 discount if they choose to then buy at one of the designated alternatives shops.

Early reports suggest that high street stores are less than impressed with the move, with many angry that their shops are effectively being turned into showrooms. However, that happened long ago – people have been investigating items in store and returning home to order online for many years already. This development, whilst novel and potentially useful for the customer, isn’t as ground-breaking as physical retailers might fear.

In today’s retail world, customers are shrewd and savvy, and fully aware that they can often find better rates online than they can in-store - all this app does is save them the legwork. Shops may be wary of the move, but need not be deterred; many consumers still enjoy shopping in high street stores, and with the right stock availability, customer service and overall store presentation, physical stores can absolutely still succeed.

Retailers that waste time rueing the advent of e-commerce need to spend more time focusing on their own business, and challenge themselves to find out what they can do to improve before totally pointing the blame elsewhere.