Customers of the 21st century are highly educated and informed. When entering a local retail store they hide their true intent of NOT buying from the store. I call them Trojan Customers of the 21 century.
The Trojan Horse is a famous war between the Greeks and the city of Troy. After 10 years of conflict, the Greeks built a huge wooden horse in which a select force of men hid inside. The Greeks pretended to leave the area leaving behind the horse; the Trojans entered the horse in the city of Troy as a trophy of victory.
That night, the Greek soldiers hiding inside the horse slipped out of the horse and opened the city’s gates. The Greek army entered the city destroying it and bringing an end to war.
Just as the Trojan Horse, The Trojan Customer enters a facility as if it were the very same Trojan Horse.
The Trojan Customer is intending to use all the free resources of that establishment, touch the merchandise, make all questions needed, and when you least expect it, like the Greek soldiers came out at night to open the doors of the city, the Trojan Customer sneaks out his smart phone, takes a scan of the bar code of the product, compares the product’s prices online with an application called Price Check, and gets away with murder…
The exit strategy may vary. Some of the Trojan Customers act very gently and thank the seller for its help.
Some, as an added insult use the restroom on their triumphant exit, as if were to marking the territory…
The last step of the troyan process is to reach out to the nearest computer to order the item online.
This is the formula used by Trojan Customers of the 21st century.
Visit the local store, satisfy all their questions, handle the item before buying it, scanning the item’s barcode, compare the price online, and order the item online for a better price.
This is why Best Buy has been called Amazon’s showroom. The flow of Trojan Customers has increased alarmingly lately. This app has changed the rules of marketing as we know them.
This Trojan Customer has cost millions of dollars to the retail market starting with Best Buy, and spreading to the medium and small businesses as well.
That is why it is extremely important to educate ourselves on the subject of internet marketing seminars and workshops online. Trojan Customers has become the Achilles heel of all traders.