Will a brick & mortar app store succeed?

IMO - no.....not an app store that uses consultants etc. but that's just my opinion. It's too easy to search from your couch and find what you need I think; even for my 8 year old (oh the bills).

But I think there's a future for a virtual store that's a brick and mortar building. Here's my vision - you walk into a store and are presented with a lounge area with multiple means of browsing the merchandise (safely located in the back of the store) such as goggles, smart tablets, touch surface tables/bar etc. and you 'shop' what's in the store. In my world you can upload a PIC of yourself, even a full body, and 'try on' the clothing in 3D - spin the image around etc. Even upload a PIC of a room and 'test fit' furniture, change the color, pattern etc......Then you can make a selection and the clerk will run to the back and pick it - you can try it on etc. then make the purchase (or walk out of course). I think theft would be reduced and a shopper can go through a lot of merchandise quickly - I think it's a win/win IMO because you get to shop a lot of 'stuff' in a comfortable environment AND walk home with the purchase.

Anyone want to invest :-)

Caty:

I agree with Alan. With the growth of “cloud” and the ubiquitous nature of the internet, it won’t be long before we can download any app, on any device, from (almost) anywhere.

In fact, I see the number of “brick & mortar” retail establishments – of almost every kind – declining dramatically over the coming years. (Look at what’s happened to the “big-box” book-sellers since Amazon joined the scene). On-line sales continue to grow every year. While “stores” will probably never go away completely – (see Alan’s vision above) – because of the convenience of shopping from anywhere, as well as the costs to the retailer of the real-estate foot-print and utilities, we will continue to fewer and fewer shops of the brick-and-mortar variety.

Alan:

I like your vision – but won’t the shopper be able to do all that from home? With the emergence of technologies like 3-D TV, Telepresence and Touchable Holography, as well as the ever dropping cost of bandwidth, I can see the average consumer having the ability to do all that from the comfort of their own abode in the (not-too-distant) future. While there won’t be the immediate gratification of walking out of the store with the item you purchased – there would be the inevitable wait for shipping – the convenience might be irresistible.

Alan:

Agreed -- instant gratification is a powerful emotion!

I don't believe this is a concept with legs. If the app is so complex it needs a translator, it's a bad app. Consumer facing apps have to be simple and intuitive.

No way! Why would it? Everything one needs with respect to apps - marketing information, trial versions, and, most importantly, fulfillment, are available over a network (usually wireless). What good would a retail store do? There's no value-add. And one would need to make the purchase electronically regardless.

A bigger question is how to market apps when the traditional retail channel is unavailable. And there are really no good answers here - we are drowning in so much information (mostly noise, but let's give advertisers and marketers the benefit of the doubt for the moment) that an extraordinary set of events is required for any given app to cut through that noise. I mean, how did Angry Birds get so popular?