Shop Offline, Buy Online
from the reversal-of-fortunes dept
It looks like the rest of the world is catching up with me. For years, now, my method for buying new books is to go into a bookstore and browse randomly until I found something interesting. I'd flip through the book a little and if it looked good, I'd jot down the name of the book. Later on, I'd look the book up online and see what sort of reviews it received, and then decide whether or not to buy it online. I did the same thing with the last car I bought - test driving at various dealers before making the final purchase online. For years, this was backwards of what most people did. They would research items online first, and then go buy at a shop. However, it appears that I'm not so much of an oddity any more. The latest study shows that many more people are researching in stores, but then going to the web to buy. I wonder if there will be a backlash against such in-store browsing. I recently heard about a shoe store that is telling people if they try on a shoe but don't buy it, the store will charge a $30 fee. They did this because people kept coming in and trying on shoes until they found ones that fit, and then went online to buy them instead. This seems a bit draconian, and unlikely to win many fans (or shoppers!), but it does suggest some of the tactics that brick-and-mortar shops may eventually adopt.
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Shop Offline, Buy Online
Imagine if someone wanted to start a website to compete with you, and expected you to give them lots of free advice about how to do it, perhaps under the guise of being a loyal reader that is just curious about certain aspects of their favorite website. I know I wouldn't like it too much.
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No Subject Given
Personally, I'll happily pay a few points more on just about anything if it means not going to a WalMart or mall.
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No Subject Given
I like the idea of charging a fee for shoe try ons. I'm a runner and have when I decide to buy a new shoe type I have to go to our local running store to try them to see if the toe box fits, check the width on the midsole, heel support, etc. I always buy the shoe from the Store even though I can usually get it for at least 20% cheaper on line. The store provides the extra 20% of value by letting me try before I buy. Shoes is one of those things you can't buy on line and return and expect a refund ... though occasionally you can get like value though most are 'you wore it, you bought it'.
Mike, it's really not cool to get up on the world wide web and proclaim to be such a tight wad. I suspect you didn't / don't get many second dates.
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Re: No Subject Given
And, as for music, you're talking to the wrong guy. I spend a lot more on music every year than the vast majority of people. I would spend a lot more on music (both concerts and CDs) if I could find more bands I like, and I believe that I could do that using a file sharing service. I don't use one, though, because of the fact that most songs on them are up there illegally.
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I'm the opposite
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Very disappointing
When I recommend a book to someone I ask them not to buy online, in order to help local bookshops.
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Re: Very disappointing
It's basic competition. They don't offer me what I need, so I don't buy from them. If they did, it would be a different story.
Truth of the matter is, of course, that I still buy about 25% of the books I own at bookstores, either because I need it immediately, or something catches my eye and I figure I might as well just pick it up.
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Hmm...
Judging from the "high brow" tone of some of the replies I'm guessing you will say yes.
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Re: Hmm...
It really does come down to what extra service the brick and mortar store is offering, in my opinion. A shoe store clearly offers a large benefit, and having recently tried to buy shoes online due to a gift certificate (luckily from a place with a good return policy), I'm sticking with B/M shoe stores forever. A bookstore does not always offer the same clear advantage. I can browse online in a similar way that I can browse in a store, sometimes with better results and sometimes with worse results. I can read a couple pages in a store, or I can at amazon.com too. So what is the store giving me that online isn't?
That said, I happen to buy most of my books offline because I like the feel of bookstores. In my single days I also lived under the illusion it was a good place to pick up chicks, ha!
msykes
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Re: Hmm...
My tone isn't meant to be 'holier than thou'. I'm as much a shopper as Mike is, maybe more so. But if I 'use' some special service of the company/business, I'm likely to buy there (and may even haggle over the price if I know it's a bit to high). However, I do find something very sleazy about going to a car dealer, using their time and resources knowing ahead of time I intend to buy elsewhere.
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Re: Hmm...
Anyone who'd buy a car without even trying to shop around the same make/model at other dealers is pretty much leaving money on the table.
If I get a great pre-sales experience and price offer from dealer A I'll still go to dealer B and see if they can do better on both counts. If so, I'm the winner and A will have to try harder, which is good for consumers. If B's service is better but not the price, I can use A's to negotiate it down. If B's service sucks but his price is better, then I'll use it to negotiate with A and move his price down a little.
Part of the equation is that you get what you pay for, so a rational buyer has to factor in the service as part of the value, not just the price.
What's sleazy is taking this too far, either with excessive counter-offers or by misstating facts (like claiming B had a lower offer than what he actually made to put the squeeze on A).
Bottom line is that B/M vendors play to a segment of the market that they have to work hard to keep.
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Mike you are a thief.
Mike, You are stealing.
Price isn't the only factor in making a purchase. People like Mike put the independent retailers out of business by USING them for research and then SCREWING them out of the sale.
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Question
In situations when I shop at used or small bookstores, it's usually because they offer something special and I *do* buy from them.
Again, this is a situation where business models need to keep up, and if they don't, no matter how much people get angry at me, it's not going to stop the world from moving forward.
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Re: Question
Actually I do my comparison shopping on the internet and sometimes I will go to a store to look at something. But many times the internet site has a better price, no tax and no shipping. If a local store can offer a better deal, then I will buy there. It's pure business. Competition is good for the marketplace and especially good for the consumer.
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Re: Question
Somethings, such clothes, I will only buy offline. To many times there are small differences btwn each item even if it is the same version. Electronics, books, or other physical objects work just fine for online purchases.
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one way to help solve the problem (for retailers)
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No Subject Given
A book is a book is a book. They aren't going to pad their margin on books by having a nice store. They can and do have nice stores and try to add additional margin with the coffee shop, author signings, kids story hours etc. All those things get people in the store but the people owe the store nothing. If you value the extra service you probably should buy there - but it certainly is not an obligation in any way.
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Re: No Subject Given
The kiosks you can use to search weither or not they have a book, or where it is located, is connected to the exact same database on the internet. So if you cant find it in store, they will allow you to order it and ship it directly to you door.
Weither this works for anything else, I dont know. But for printed material it's a combination of online availablity and physical accessiblity.
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No Subject Given
http://www.goodroi.com/amazoncom.html they refer other people to it and view many pages. Instead of drivign with such expensive gas rpcies I guess people are preferring to stay in their comfortable homes and shop and browse online from their computer.
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stealing?
B/M stores and web stores are competing more closely. Their markets are converging. Just like telephone, cable, net and other electronic sectors. PDAs and SmartPhones are a good example.
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