When T-Mobile’s G1 phone was unveiled earlier this year one of the things that caught many people’s eyes was the barcode reader app available for it. Developed by Big In Japan, ShopSavvy allows users to scan the barcode of any product and instantly get price comparison information for it displayed on their phone. This allows people to go into a shop, see something they like, scan the barcode and discover immediately just how cheap they could get it if they bought it online. After that they can order the goods from their phone right there and then.

It’s a similar situation with Amazon’s iPhone app (currently only available in the USA). You can take a photo of an item and Amazon will tell you they sell the item for less. A couple of taps on the screen later and you’ve ordered it. This solution has the advantage of not even requiring a barcode to be on display in-store.

It’s easy to see why commentators are declaring this the death of the humble shopkeeper. As if an economic downturn and overheads not faced by online competitors weren’t enough, bricks-and-mortar shops now face the real possibility of being reduced to being showrooms for their internet-based rivals. Once this technology gets into the hands of mainstream phone users it could usher in a bargain-hunting free-for-all that will last until the last shop has turned out its lights for the final time.

Does it really have to be this way? While some shops may well disappear there’s a real opportunity for enterprising retailers to alter the way they operate and capitalise on their newly empowered customers. Let’s take a look at one retailer that may be in threatened and how they could turn the tide in their favour.

Game is the UK’s biggest chain of videogame stores. The risk to Game is that armed with apps like Amazon and ShopSavvy customers could browse the racks, maybe try a game on the demo machines in-store and then order the game cheaper online.  Game could tackle this head on by launching new low-overheads ‘express’ stores with small staff requirements and lots of copies of a small range of only the most popular games on each platform.

With lower operating costs they could offer their stock at internet prices. Sure, they wouldn’t offer a great deal of customer choice but look at the games charts; unlike music charts which change frequently, games charts tend to move more slowly. As most gamers buy only a handful of games per year, stocking only the top ten games on each platform won’t necessarily be a big problem.

By cutting costs and prices and only selling the most popular items these stores would suddenly have the upper hand on their online rivals. Why buy online and wait at least 24 hours to play the game when you can pick it up for roughly the same price and play it today?

This model could be applied to lots of other retail areas from electronics to furniture. If you want wide choice, look online to the giants with their enormous warehouses, if you want something popular quickly your local shop has it covered. It’ll be a reduced level of importance for shops in people’s lives but it’ll mean shops survive and our High Streets remain busy.

So, barcode scanners and their like might not mean the death of bricks-and-mortar shops after all. That doesn’t mean that all will be fine for traditional retailers though. Game, for example, have more to fear from digital distribution than barcode readers. Let’s face it, you can downsize and specialise all you like but when people don’t need a physical product in order to enjoy their entertainment they suddenly don’t need that Saturday trip to the shopping centre. That’s a whole different problem…