Professor says merger mania won’t shut down regular stores

While some retailers fear the growing e-commerce craze, a marketing professor at the University of Northern Iowa doesn’t think there’s much cause for worry. Even in light of the A-O-L/Time-Warner merger, Professor Mohammed Rawwas says retail stores will continue to play a vital role in the buying process — whatever the product.Professor Rawwas says seeing a picture of a product isn’t enough — people often need to pick up and examine a product before they’ll buy it. Still, he says the Internet does a good job of bringing consumers more information about the products they buy.Rawwas says retail stores and cyberspace stores complement each other.He foresees more people researching a product online before taking a trip to the store to buy it.