實體店恨死"試穿賊"試後不買,掉頭去網購

If the shoe fits . . . but you don’t buy it, you could soon be tarred with the same brush as shoplifters by shoe store owners.

如果鞋子合腳，你卻不買，鞋店老闆可能把你當作冒充顧客進店行竊的扒手對待——這種事情在不久以後可能成爲現實。

Worried retailers are increasingly frustrated by people they dub “fit-lifters” who use stores to find the best-fitting shoes before buying them online at a lower price.

現在有一些人把商店當做試鞋間、選好款式後上網以更便宜的價格購買。憂心忡忡的零售商們對這種事情感到越來越頭疼。他們稱這種人爲“試穿賊”(fit-lifter)。

Bricks-and-mortar shops have higher salary and rental costs than internet rivals and store owners say some online buyers are freeriding on their resources. “You’ve come in and stolen that service basically,” said Richard Napier of Idaho Mountain Trading, an outdoor sports store in Idaho Falls, who calls fit-lifting unethical.

與電商相比，實體商店的人員和租金成本更高。實體店的老闆們稱，一些網購顧客正在白蹭他們的資源。愛達荷瀑布市(Idaho Falls)一家戶外運動品商店——愛達荷登山用品商店(Idaho Mountain Trading)的理查德•內皮爾(Richard Napier)稱，在實體店試穿、然後在網上購買的行爲是不道德的。他說：“你來店裏、然後偷走了那項服務，基本就是這麼回事。

“It’s not that the salesperson didn’t have somebody else to serve who would have bought something. So not only have you stolen the wages. I have a loss of revenue that he would have collected from another customer.”

“銷售人員並不是沒有別的顧客要招呼——那些真正想買點東西的顧客。因此，你偷走的不僅是商店支付給銷售人員的工資，還有本來可能從其他顧客那裏獲得的銷售收入。”

It is common for online shoppers to research products in stores in other retail sectors such as bookselling – a practice named “showrooming” – and smartphones make it possible to buy online even while still in a store. But the trend is particularly contentious in footwear because staff spend so much time fetching boxes and advising customers on comfort.

在圖書等其他零售領域，網購者在商店裏“研究產品”是很常見的行爲。這種行爲被稱爲“參觀陳列室”，並且只要有智能手機，“參觀者”在實體店裏面的時候就可以在線購買某樣產品。但這種趨勢在鞋類零售業中引起了特別大的爭議，因爲鞋類商店的員工花了那麼多時間爲顧客取鞋，提供有關鞋子舒適度的建議。

Tensions have been heightened by the price advantage that ecommerce gains from the fact that many online shoppers do not have to pay state and local sales tax, which add between 5 and 10 per cent.

許多網購者無需向州和地方繳納銷售稅（通常佔售價的5%至10%），這賦予電商一項價格優勢，加劇了實體店的不滿。

Following years of lobbying by bricks-and-mortar stores, the US Senate is expected today to pass a bill that would help end tax-free online shopping. But it still faces opposition in the House of Representatives.

經過實體商店多年的遊說，美國參議院預計將在今日通過一項法案，將有助於終結網上購物免稅的局面。但該法案在衆議院仍面臨阻力。

Gary Weiner, owner of Saxon Shoes in Virginia and a board member of the National Shoe Retailers Association in the US, said shoe-sellers were “very concerned” about fit-lifting.

弗吉尼亞州Saxon Shoes老闆、美國國家鞋類零售商協會(National Shoe Retailers Association)理事加里•韋納(Gary Weiner)表示，鞋類商店“非常擔心”在實體店試穿、然後在網上購買的行爲。

“We also hear ‘My mother sent me in to get my size fitted so she can buy them online’. Those exact words,” he said. “We’re a polite people. So we give them the time of day.”

韋納說：“我們還聽過‘我媽讓我來試鞋碼，這樣她可以在網上買’這種話。一字不差。我們是有教養的人。所以我們仍然招待他們。”

Asked if he had considered refusing, he said: “We think about it every single time. Do we say it? No. You can’t say it out loud.”

在被問及是否考慮過拒絕提供服務，韋納說：“我們每次都考慮拒絕。但我們說出來了嗎？沒有。這種話沒法說出口。”

Zappos, an online shoe-seller owned by Amazon, encourages shoppers to order two or more different sizes, which they can return for free, in an effort to overcome customer reluctance to buy without trying.

亞馬遜(Amazon)旗下在線鞋類商城Zappos鼓勵購買者同時預訂兩種或兩種以上鞋碼，並提供免費退貨服務，以打消顧客沒有試穿不敢購買的心理。