Headline, April15, 2014

"" TOASTING THE WORLD : 

CLICKS AND BRICKS ""

All this looks easier if you have real shops.

With  "click and collect"   customers can order with, say, a smartphone but pick up the item at the convenient store.

Often, they linger to shop more. Britons pick up something extra,  about  40% of the time, says Ms Albizua.

Happily hybrid   John Lewis,  an upmarket department-store chain, says that on and offline shopping spur each other on.

When a new shop opens, online sales in the vicinity can jump  20-40%  "overnight",  says Noel Saunders, the manager of the branch near London's Olympic Stadium.

New products can be tested online and stocked in store if they do well. Nearly a third of customers who order online pick up their wares in stores.

Britons are among the world's most avid online shoppers,  but  65%  still prefer buying in-store according to a survey by Hitachi Consulting.

The question for  envious  e-tailers is how to pluck the benefits of physical stores without incurring the costs. Most proceed gingerly,  armed with high-tech weaponry.

"Pop-up shops"  generate buzz and then vanish. EBay has tried them, and Winser London, a fashion website,  plans to. Amazon's ghostly high-street presence helps make delivery cheaper and more convenient, but so far it offers nothing more.

Kiddicare plans  15 stores  at most in Britain, a fraction of the number operated by its struggling competitor,  Mothercare.  They will be nimbler than traditional stores.

Prices will appear on electronic labels and change with the push of a button.

Bricks and mortar merchants are likewise paring space and bulking up on technology. In Britain the number of outlets a retail chain needs to have national coverage:

Has dropped from  200  in the  pre-online era to  50-80, says Adrian D'Enrico of AXA Real Estate, an investment manager.

House of Fraser is experimenting with shops that are little more than a changing room and rows of screens to order clothes. Hointer, a Seattle start-up, provides just enough space:

Display a sample of each type  jeans  it sells;  robots fetch the right size from the stockroom. On today's highstreet,  shopkeepers who standstill  are unlikely to survive.

So, the world ought to  Shop and Shop  till everyone drops off on the sofa.

With Two respectful dedications. Firstly, to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on  !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

Secondly, to Mark Zuckerberg. The 30 year old billionaire teamed up with powerful  Facebook friends to create:

Fwd.us, a dark-money advocacy group focused on "immigration"  and ""education reform""

"' The Promise "'

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless