Outside the box idea for local camera shops: The Internet Showroom event

When the waves of new cameras stop, it gives us some time to think, and that's usually a bad idea. Because that's when we come up with ...ideas. And here is one of them:

For years now, local camera shops have been complaining about the "internet showroom" effect, where buyers visit their local camera stores to play with the cameras and lenses but without any intention of actually buying from them because the prices are higher than the internet.

This has been frustrating local camera shop owners and caused them to start profiling users who may "look" like they are visiting just for "internet showroom", thus losing even more sales by being not-friendly to people who may actually be looking for a reason or an excuse to help support their local camera shops.

So here is our outside-the-box idea for local camera shops: Organize "Internet Showroom Days", and invite people from your area and region to come and play with all sorts of cameras and lenses. Have the demo cameras and lenses readily available for people to play with. Bolt the cameras and lenses (and the guests) if you must ;-) Charge an admission fee for the event, or better yet, the admission price could be used as a coupon off the purchase of something in-store.

Care must be taken for the gear to readily available for people to play with, and sniveling salesmen with attitude problems to be kept away from the store at all costs.

It is important not to organize this like the "demo days" with company and regional reps crawling all over the place. The idea here is to give the people and the gear as much "alone time" as possible!

This will be your chance to make a positive impression on the local population and explain to them why buying from you would be a valued-added proposition. If you have any employees with attitude problems, it may be a good idea to give them the day off. It is very important to give visitors and guests a CLEAR PATH to the cameras without having to go through a salesman. Think of it as a real-world Engadget showcase!

So, there you have it... This is your outside the box idea :) If you do plan on having an "Internet Showroom" event at your local camera store, please let us know and we will mention it on this blog :-)