Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Today, consumers buy toiletries with the click of a mouse; browse desired items across the web using image-recognition software; and celebrate how they needn’t even leave the house — unless they want to: Where shoppers once visited exclusive boutiques, even the designer goods those boutiques sell can now be delivered straight to their doorstep.
Case in point: LVMH — owner of the luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Chandon and Sephora — reported $13.44 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2018 alone, thanks in large part to its online sales.
Success stories such as LVMH’s explain why brands are pouring resources into social media, artificial intelligence and other digital experiences. But, despite this quest by companies to adopt the latest and greatest digital tools, any observer (like me) has to wonder: Are brands losing sight of the value of stellar in-person experiences?
I for one believe that offline touchpoints will always be necessary. Take, real estate, for example; it’s the industry my company Agentology operates in. According to The National Association of Realtors (NAR), 90 percent of home buyers and sellers start their search online. Additionally, Zillow’s new Instant Offers platform allows sellers to receive and accept cash offers from investors for their homes online without using a human agent.
However, real estate transactions typically don’t end online. Zillow executive Errol Samuelson recently told Inman that although around 33 percent of the sellers who asked for an Instant Offer did go on to sell their home online, 90 percent decided to list with an agent rather than accept an institutional investor’s cash offer.
The message? There’s something to be said for face-to-face interactions, and you would be wise to reinvest in them.
The shortcomings of online marketing
The internet certainly drives sales, but it also has its limits. For one thing, thanks to the spread of such much-talked-about concepts as fake news, and the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, consumers’ mistrust of information they find online has increased, according to a study by the marketing agency Performics and Medill School of Journalism.
Meeting with customers in person, on the other hand, goes a long way in building trust and loyalty….
