Small vs Big
It is challenging for companies designing points of sale since it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to serve the needs of premium clients and the masses at the same time.
“Those who were able to move towards the premium category were forced to do so. Although, this is easy to say but hard to execute in practice. To successfully achieve premium quality, special requirements must be met. It is important to have the professional know-how available that enables a start-to-finish presence to ensure that the design-implementation-installation processes can be successfully performed. Furthermore, premium quality cannot exist without suitable technological background and knowledge. This means that technical expertise in the fields of IT and audio are mandatory. What’s more, the third important requirement is also there, which states that one needs experts who can coordinate tasks related to interior design with the technological background and able to transfer all of this to a location in a way that ensures that it provides a genuine experience to customers and clients. This means serious, decade-long, highly capital-intensive development projects and investment since in the present day, customers would like to get all of this from the same place instead of contracting with two or three different companies”, added Mr Nidermayer. For the foreseeable future, it is clear that only large corporations will survive the crisis. Smaller businesses, which have traditionally always been present in this sector, do not have much of a chance now. “When looking at the investment part, this statement may be true; however, big corporations are feasible exactly because they work with large quantities and templates since this is what makes their business cost-effective. However, smaller companies can better meet premium expectations: unique design, specialised implementation and installation, maximum attention. Customers who have truly premium expectations demand maximum attention and flexibility. Well, these qualities are not plentiful at multinationals. As a result, the market potential is clearly present in the case of small enterprises as well. It must be decided whether we want to produce large quantities and be forced to partake in the increasingly intensive price competition, but in return survive without constant investment, or to shift towards premium quality, in which case professional development and significant investment are required. This period, the future, all hinges on this decision”, analysed Mr Nidermayer.
People are still thinking twice about when to leave their homes, but in countries that have chosen to reopen, potential shoppers, customers, and business partners show up in shops and offices en masse within a few weeks. They feel that their money is worth more now, and they have elevated expectations when asked to spend it. This is something the POS industry, which has already undergone a significant transformation, has to prepare for. This means that if someone has a tendency to doze off in general, this is the one time when they should request a wake-up call!