60 comments

1. I have to agree with you here. And I give you credit for not shaming the company here. I can understand the motives of the store in trying to prevent the photo, but they there’s a good chance that the photo-taking would be in their interest, not against their interest. And they simply can’t set themselves up as the image police, not any longer.

2. As a retailer, I understand the desire to protect all the effort that went into the pricing, merchandising display, and other bits of work that go into retail presentation.
   As a retailer, I also want people to share my products as widely as possible. Perhaps the rule needs some evolving:
   “Formal Photography is not allowed. No DSLRs, no tripods, no extensive photodocumentation, please. Otherwise, snap away with your smartphone.”

3. Obviously the problem here is with Amazon’s mobile app (and similar price-checking apps) that let you scan a bar code or product box and get it cheaper through Amazon. The local retailer is screwed in that case.
   However, there are far less obtrusive ways to circumvent that… some stores are even printing their own bar codes to cover up the manufacturer’s UPC, preventing bar-code scanning from getting any results. This adds more labor and printing costs, but how much business do you think the furniture store is losing from each customer like you that they’ve pissed off?

4. Mitch –
   I could kiss you for writing this!
   I have had similar experiences and wanted to say the same things – something along the lines of “Wake up, people, and smell the social nature of things!” Holy crap!
   What makes me the most angry is that the few instances where I’ve been “bagged” for taking photos have had a lasting impact on me. Now, I feel like a convicted felon each time I take my phone out in a store. I feel guilty even though the reasons I take pictures are completely innocent and good for the business in question: sharing the item with someone who would help me make a decision, sharing the product (and store location!) with my social networks, “bookmarking” the item for possible future gift giving. Like you – I often take pictures of info instead of writing things down – product info, business cards, event posters. (I LOVE that I’m not the only one who takes pictures of parking locations!) 🙂
   There are competitive risks, I suppose, but those seem SO minuscule in comparison to the potential benefits. I think the bigger risk – which you pointed out – is alienating your customers. How can you build a “tribe” if you can’t demonstrate even the smallest bit of trust? That “policing” mentality only serves to make your customers feel like outsiders. Not good.
   Love the post. Thanks again for writing it!

5. Hell, a furniture store would do well to have their own high-quality photos on their site. If they were smart, each item would have a QR code in front of it that links shoppers to the “More Info About This Piece…” page on their own website.
   Might mean more work for their web people and more paper to print for the code display, but it also might mean fewer easily-answered questions of their in-store customer service reps.

6. Imagine if the sign said this: “If you’re photographing our display, please take a moment and text a copy to us at [insert info here] and tell us how you’re using/sharing the photo. They might actually have learned a new way to communicate with you!
   Thanks for the great post as always.

7. Had the *exact same thing* happen to me 10 days ago, shopping for a couch that needs to go in a tight space. I was snapping away at the price/dimension tags, to remember which store this was (we were shopping around and hadn’t made up our mind yet) and the sales manager told me I couldn’t take pictures in the store.
   We walked out and will probably never go back.

8. Ironically, we all know that three-months from now they’ll put up a QR Code somewhere in store and will actively ask you to use your smartphone camera so you can bring up their lousy homepage.
   Ain’t technology amazing when it’s so self-serving.

9. I had the same experience at a furniture store and it was quite a turn off. Seems this practice is prevalent.
   Thanks for sharing the idea of taking a photograph of parking spots. It will be helpful.

10. I snap quick photos all the time and haven’t experienced anyone telling me not to do that…yet. It’s really helpful when trying to remember which store you saw something at — also for checking to see if your partner is interested in making the purchase. Saves time not having to go back to the store if the reaction is just “meh” to it. My mobile device has completely replaced notepads.

11. I agree 100%.
    You could also be on the phone giving a friend the same information.
    There’s no way to fight this.
    And really, who would want to knock off an Ikea kitchen. It’s cheap enough as it is.. no need to have it melt in your hands for a few dollars less.
    But at the same time, and on a different note, I love the fact that Ikea or Apple will give you every detail available online so that we don’t even have to drag our lazy, hum, bums to the store to do that exercise. Not only that, but I’d rather give business to a company that will make my research and shopping experience easier and easier – especially when living at the pace at which we are forced to work and live our lives. Of course you’ll say “that’s your problem” but come on, I don’t live in a tent in the forest, and you don’t as well, so…
    I recently wanted to compare prices and deals for appliances and discovered that none of the stores gave out any kind of info re their products, online. So I’ll have to go to each one, waste expensive gaz and precious time looking for the best deal for a stove, a fridge and a dishwasher. Really? And when i will have found it, trust me, i won’t be more tell my friends “oh what a great store, got such a good deal” … nnnnon. You know what? Maybe I should start a facebook page listing all their prices and brands… Oh… my iPhone is ready…

12. I’m not clear on the rules for photography even in general. The same goes for making audio recordings (which is easy to do discreetly with a tablet or smartphone).
    Recently, I was prohibited from video recording my own presentation (the camera would have only shown me but picked up audience Q&A). The compromise was to let me record audio for self-improvement … as long as I didn’t post the recording.
    In a store, you’re on private property but you’ve been invited in. If taking a photo helps you decide, the store is losing out by restricting you. As @dave says, banning tripods etc is fine but using a smartphone? That seems very reasonable.
    PS We took photos in a furniture store without incident but they may not have noticed.

13. I would be very interested to hear how the store manager justifies the policy. It boggles my mind how few retailers effectively leverage social media and mobile technology, but attempting to turn back the clock is just absurdly futile and counter-productive. My camera roll is filled with things I want to remember or share, and the risk that I use the information to price shop is just a cost of doing business these days. .
    On the other hand, as mentioned in another comment, I fully support retailers who cover UPC or other standard barcodes in an effort to stop RedLaser etc.
    Mitch, your book should be required reading for this type of retailer.

14. We brought Japanese exchange students to our grocery store recently and had the same lecture given to us. These girls don’t have 10,000 items in one location let alone 100,000. We weren’t there to compare prices of milk, but to truely represent to their parents what the experience was like in the USA.

15. Matt, I’m pretty sure your Japanese friends have stores with endless rows of stuff, just like here. They’ve got Costco and everything else there. I bet your friends were just gawking at the product label design– just like the gaijin do in Tokyo.

16. I had the same problem when I was buying a wedding dress. With so many dresses and so many stores, I had wanted to take a quite snap on my phone so I could remember which ones I liked, what they looked like and where I had seen them.
    Of course, I wasn’t permitted to take photos anywhere because I might “create a knock-off”. Having looked into having a dress made, it was a far more expensive option anyway.
    I was made to feel like a cheap time-waster and ultimately I didn’t go back.

17. I take pictures all the time- of books for my reading list, of furniture and things I’m considering but want to show my spouse first, of shoes so when I clean out my closet, I know which pairs I want to add and can make the second shopping trip so much faster. Now that photography is fast and basically free, it becomes another archival method for us, and can actually lead to more loyalty than less.
    The problem is that much of the world is still way behind in getting policy to mirror reality, and they haven’t really thought things through. After all, we all know ideas are cheap compared to execution- even if you could find something that looks like an Eames or Aeron chair elsewhere for less, they never are as good as the original, just like the knockoffs the night after the Oscars are never quite in the same league as the original design. Part of doing business is to realize your ideas and execution in combination are the secret sauce- the idea alone might be great, but the attention to detail and passion make all the difference in the end.

18. I do not like the whole public shaming thing 😉

19. People don’t buy on price alone. Service and post-sale opportunities create loyalty. Not pricing.

20. How do you feel about museums and allowing or disallowing the public to take pictures of paintings?

21. Years ago I was shopping for a car. I got my short list down to 11 cars and ventured out to test drive each of them.
    Most were okay, fit the bill, had all the bells and toys I wanted but it was the experience that shortened the list even more. Most dealerships would give me just enough gas to circle the dealership and get back while two were different. That has always struck me as curious. You are making a purchase in the tens of thousands of dollars which you are expected to make a decision in less time than it take to steep a cup of tea.
    The list was shortened to two cars. It was tough call but I went out once more to have a closer look.
    Dealership one – sharp sales guy, spent time with me on options and knew the cars well. Then he took me out for a drive. First, he drove the car. And when I say “drove” I mean “drove the snot out of”, then pulled over and said “your turn”.
    Dealership two – equally sharp sales guy gave me the car for a couple of hours to enjoy. Yes, I got to leave the confines of the carefully planned test drive route and show my friends, have a mechanic check it out (even though it was a new vehicle), price compare or just go for a drive and get to know the car.
    Some in the industry may claim this is not a model they can follow. There’s no way they can lend cars out to prospects for an afternoon. That is lunacy! They have to watch the mileage and there are insurance issues. They can’t have an empty lot because potential customers are out driving their cars. It just won’t work!
    Well perhaps, just maybe this would help the endless screaming and yelling about finance percentages, lowest prices in history this time we mean it sales and free hot dogs for the kids on Saturday.
    This is not to suggest you give a $30,000 vehicle out for the day to anyone who walks into your store but let your customers take pictures, take it out for a real spin, experience your offering.
    If you don’t, they won’t make a fuss, they just won’t return.

22. It depends on the type of mood that the museum is creating. If you’re not looking for flashes to be going off and the sound of clicking all day because it doesn’t fit the vibe of the exposition, I think requesting to not have that happen is fine. If you’re asking people not to take pictures, but everything is readily available online, etc… than it doesn’t make much sense. Again, when it says “no photography” it screams “we don’t trust you.”

23. Your experience explains what happens (to my surprise) in my store many times a week Mitch, customers sheepishly asking if they take a few pictures of our beds. The answer is always yes and we’ll even offer to print a high-res colour image if they have the time to wait.

24. I feel like I’m in a covert op when I snap a photo in a store. I’ve sometimes asked permission first, other times just snapped away. I haven’t yet been caught in the “evil act”, but I can just imagine how I’d deal with it if it happened. I’d welcome the exchange: would make for a good blog post:)
    It puts me in mind of a sign outside an independent retail shop that I saw: “Absolutely no customer parking”…note the “absolutely”.
    Funny thing is, you could be snapping a photo to send to someone who’s looking for the exact item to purchase, thereby becoming a pseudo-salesperson for the store. Or just taking the shot for specs. Or just taking the shot: period.
    This is an instance when I’d vote with my wallet and take my biz elsewhere. This post demonstrates that truth is stranger than fiction. Cheers! Kaarina

25. Completely agree Mitch. I wrote a similar post a while back about bars, restaurants, and attractions that encourage you to take pictures, but don’t have Wi-Fi. Cutting off your nose to spite your face.
    If your customer experience is driven by corporate regulations, it’s not a customer experience at all.

26. Customer experience is what brings you back in the door or drives you to tell your friends. We recently selected a sectional couch after going to 10 stores (had to fit in a very specific space). The customer service was so stellar, that we went back the following week and purchased several more pieces. One of those items was damaged in shipping and they bent over backwards to fix it. Will go there first from now on. And we tell everyone we know to go to Guelph Furniture House. Why? They cared.

27. This happenned to me on March 25 at a store on St Catherine St that sells sunglasses and watches. I remember the date because I wanted to take a pictire of one of their watches to use in a PowerPoint presentation. The sales person asked me why I was taking a picture, I told her and she seemed satisfied. But a couple of minutes later, her boss came around and told me taking pictures of the merchandise was strictly against the store’s policy. I think you’re right Mitch this policy does reduce competition, which is why many store’s have such a policy. But the dead weight of old technology over new technology may also be playing a role. The camera-phone is still seen as an unwarrented invasion of privacy whereas the pen and paper is not. How good are you at drawing Mitch? Or perrhaps you could test this hypothesis by getting one your interns whose a dab hand with a sketch book to go to your furniture store and draw and see what happens. Cheers and keep on blogging

28. Very interesting post thank you!
    Last week I had the same experience in a major clothing retailer. I found it funny cause I just wanted to share the trousers through facebook to have my friends opinion.
    The funny thing about it is that I was able to do it through their website and I was just wondering why they don’t apply the same rules on and offline…
    🙂

29. Hi Mitch,
    Just shaking my head at the (1) stupidity (my first thought was an abject fear of smart consumers doing price comparisons) and (2) naivety (as though any of their “worst case” scenarios aren’t going to happen anyway.
    If a store, or any business, doesn’t have a better point of differentiation than fear, it’s not going to be in business very long.

30. Hi Mitch:
    Thanks for sharing your story here…yeah, in this day and age, it is strange to have someone ask you not to take a picture of an item you are thinking of purchasing. I remember going to countless concerts 10 or 15 years ago and practically getting strip searched. They were searching for cameras and recording devices from bootleggers. Today I attend concerts at those same venues with countless people (including myself) taking pictures and recording video of the performances. I have to laugh sometimes. And if these venues allow cameras and smart phones, I don’t see why the store you were at would not allow them. Oh well.

31. I find this policy ludicrous as well. Several years ago my younger sister and her friend were playing in the ride/vending machine area at Walmart. They whipped out their phones and were taking pictures of themselves when an employee came up to them and yelled at them that they were not supposed to take pictures in the store. There wasn’t even anything in the background. Even now I feel weird too when taking pictures of something in the store.

32. Brick and mortar stores do seem to be trying their hardest to drive all remaining business to the web. I wonder if a business model could be built around having samples in a store and charging admission.

33. THe Museum of Modern Art just did some research into their visitors and found they enjoyed touching the works of art. So they changed their visitor advice and started to ENCOURAGE touch. It’s one of hte senses through which people appreciate art.
    Also, to all the retailers out there (furniture, fashion, wedding etc) go and look at Pinterest…. there are so many boards called ‘For my house’ or ‘My ideal wedding’. Having their products shared around must be good for the brand on balance.
    We wrote several posts recently about mobile shopping experiences and research. http://creativeagencysecrets.com/?s=retail+mobile Interestingly, the researchers didn’t mention photography as one of the strategies stores should be following.

34. I have a retailer as a client and I asked them if their store staff would take photos of themselves and the merchandise inside the store – which was a real shock because they had never thought of turning the tables and getting STAFF to photograph!
    Interestingly there were only a few of them who owned a smart phone with a camera.

35. Hi Mitch!
    I had a similar experience at WalMart a few years ago. I was as perplexed and confused as you were. What could I possibly be doing with pictures of plastic outdoor wares that’s a breach of security? It was actually a school project and I just needed an original photograph.
    Thanks for sharing your story, as always I enjoy reading your work!
    But I have one small request for you: I’d love to see pictures on your posts! It makes for a much more interesting share too : )
    Thanks Mitch!

36. Hello Mitch,
    Your sentiments and experiences resonate with me, I too had a similar experience.
    About two years ago, I decided to setup a local blog to promote businesses in the town where I live, by blogging about them.
    The problem was so many businesses owners didn’t seem very appreciative of the free promotion, worse yet, one business owner approached me and said ‘Excuse me! What are doing’.
    I explained to him I was merely filming and taking video for my blog and that I was planning on using them to promote his company to my audience for free. He sharply replied, “No thanks, I don’t give people permission to take photos or film in here”
    I didn’t bother asking why because I was fuming at the time. I’m personally going to try tell other local business owners to learn from this guys massive mistake.

37. Great Point! Use the force..

38. I agree that it’s a lost opportunity for all of the reasons you and other commenters laid out. The first thing that popped in my head is that some people are still creeped out by how others use smartphones for voyeuristic purposes. Their privacy issues may go beyond pricing, merchandising, etc., but maybe using retailer excuses for their own concerns.
    I view this as a teaching moment on your part and kudos to you for not embarrassing them by mentioning by name.

39. I’M IN RETAIL IN A SMALL COMPANY THAT SELLS HIGH END FURNITURE. THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THAT WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO IS MAINTAIN QUALITY SERVICE AND EXCLUSIVE SALES TO “OUR” CUSTOMERS. WE TREAT YOU BETTER AND GIVE YOU A FAIR AND MOST OF THE TIME AN UNBELIEVABLE DEAL ! THEN AFTER ALL OUR WORK AND TIME SPENT WITH YOU TO MAKE SHOPPING VISIT AT OUR STORE THE BEST CUSTOMER’S INSULT YOU WITH A SNAP OF A PHOTO WHICH THEY TAKE TO THE NEXT STORE TO BEGIN A BIDDING WAR. I UNDERSTAND THAT THAT IS YOUR RIGHT AS A CONSUMER BUT IT SEEMS ALMOST INSULTING AND JUST PLAIN RUDE. IT FEELS LIKE CUSTOMER’S UNDERMINE THE INTEGRITY OF OUR BUSINESS. PEOPLE EXPECT EXCLUSIVE DEALS BUT THERE IS NO LOYALTY…WELL I GUESS IM JUST STUCK IN THE PAST.

40. I just saw this: http://consumerist.com/2013/03/25/store-combats-showrooming-with-5-just-looking-fee/
    (seriously, a just-looking fee) on a consumer-advocacy website and I immediately thought of this post. I’m willing to bet the retailer using this strategy doesn’t think of itself as hostile; on the contrary it feels defensive and threatened by new consumer behaviours. Nevertheless, it is shortsighted and likely more damaging than helpful.

41. Yes, it can get silly and seemingly ridiculous when retailers confront well-meaning customers from taking photos, especially in today’s world.
    Keep in mind there is another reason why retailers prohibit snapping photos — Criminal Intent.
    My days as a retailer marketer tell me businesses prohibit customers from taking pictures to protect the store from unsavory types casing the joint. Theft for any retail business is a big issue and having front-line employees on the lookout for people snapping photos could help to reduce theft. That point hasn’t been brought up.

42. I work in a retail store in a tourist area and I”m simply shaking my head at some of these opinions. When did it become acceptable to take photos in a retail store of any kind? These places are in business for a reason and that reason being is to make money. Yes, I have the audacity to think that a business has the right to actually make a profit at the end of the day. These business owners actually have bills to pay and sending a photo to the hydro company with the lights on isn’t going to appease them, giving a photo of an employee working hard isn’t going to appease them either at the end of the work week when they’re actually expecting a paycheck or maybe just sending a photo to the company suppliers of their merchandise on the walls with people taking pictures of them will be good enough for them too right? You might not like it but the bottom line is “profit”. I know a lot of you are going to get on your high horse and say they’re just greedy business men/women blah blah blah because heaven forbid they should actually make money at these businesses. And you certainly don’t need a photo of an item if you are simply “thinking of making a purchase”, that’s just ridiculous, IMO. You’ve seen the item, think about it and then go back and actually purchase it if you choose to. But taking a photo of it, isn’t going to make up your mind at all, that’s just excuse for bad behavior.

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56. People comparison shop with or without a camera. Some businesses, like NCIX, manage to work this to their advantage by having an easy-to-use price-match system. They encourage you to report their competitors’ prices, and they will meet those prices if they can. That’s smart business. Must be why they seem to have grown from a tiny little store into a veritable empire these days.
    If I like a business, I’m more likely to buy from them. Not yelling at me would be a good start in getting me to like your business. Yelling at me for taking pictures (or looking like I’m taking pictures when I was not – this actually happened) is a great way to send me to your competitors.

57. Businesses will make money because the chance that people will remember they saw the product they liked at that particular store increases when they have a photo to remind them. And the store will make more money when some of those people’s friends also like the product after they saw it in facebook photos (or pinterest, or tweeter).
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