Description:  As online shopping has surged, traditional retailers have lost millions in sales to so-called showrooming — when shoppers check out products in stores that they then buy from Web sites like Amazon. It has gotten so bad that Best Buy even replaces standard bar codes with special Best Buy-only codes on big ticket items so they cannot be scanned and compared online.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: July 04, 2012

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/business/retailers-lure-online-shoppers-offline.html?_r=1

Questions for Discussions:

• Describe the strategic responses by bricks and mortar retailers to the threat from online shopping sites.
• Do you think these strategies will succeed?
• What else would you recommend?