Permutar não é arte

"It’s no secret that the world of in-person, store-based retail is losing a major portion of its business to online retailing.  This isn’t surprising. Any store can lose business when competitive stores open up, especially when those competitors offer advantages it can’t offer, such as breadth of selection, price and convenience.
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But online retailing doesn’t hold all of the advantages. If brick and mortar retailers want to survive – and even thrive – in this new marketplace, it’s important they play to their strengths and not to the strengths of their online competitors.
Let’s start with in-person retailing most important competitive advantage: It’s in person.
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A store sales person has the opportunity to engage a customer, learn about them, and customize the dialogue in way that is personally relevant to that customer.  An amazon.com page may be able to offer a buyer products that are relevant based on past browsing or purchases, but amazon.com is unable to help the customer form a nuanced, personalized, meaningful story about how a certain product is a great choice for them. [Moi ici: Daí a importância das interacções essa magia que sublinhamos vezes sem conta nesta vida] As amazing as it is, amazon.com is essentially the world’s biggest, most high-powered vending machine.
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This is the first element that can distinguish an in-person store experience: the feeling that a real person is working with you to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish. [Moi ici: E com uma "real person" há a possibilidade de criar algo de novo, há a possibilidade da arte. Customização matemática, permutar materiais e cores, não é o mesmo que arte]
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Brick and mortar retailers have lost many of the advantages they once had, including providing better access to products and the convenience of “location, location, location.” But they still have the advantage of proximate, meaningful human contact, which, in many situations, is a competitive advantage that can win the love – and loyalty – of customers."

Trechos retirados de "How Not to Fail at Retail"