After fumbling around with my Black and Decker blower / leaf vacuum this fall, I came across Worx power tools. Green because they run on batteries not gas. Innovative because they seem to have taken design considerations very seriously. Their blower switches to a vacuum with one switch flick, not multiple part reconfiguration. Their trimmer has a twisted line cord that they claim wacks through the weeds and grass more efficiently.
The challenge with the online model is being able to see and touch. Do they feel solid or flimsy? Amazon now has several demo agreements with Target and Best Buy to get their Kindle product displays and demo units into the hands of consumers.
A recent trip to Macy's Chicago revealed a whole first floor of store in store departments. One of my favorite online retailers, Levenger, has a dedicated floor block to many of their products. In this case store actually carry some level of inventory.
But what does this mean to innovation of distributor structure and supply chain in retail environments? Will their be distributors of experience? Will product and brand experience be delivered differently from the actual product. Will the new product landscape shift to very niche, highly specific product creation companies? I have read articles about the innovation in Black and Decker and yet, they seem to trail Worx in this case.
The Worx trimmer and blower are on my Christmas wish list, but won't be able to confirm quality or performance til Spring at best.
