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Walk in stores in big trouble !!!

BigAl

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
I know I posted it before but its is getting bigger every day . Going to the store verus buying online .
I probably buy 95% online now . The local stores just have too much overhead and I usually save 20% to 40% over local cost . That includes shipping charges . I see more stores closing if they don't get online and upgrade to a bigger buying group that the internet offers .

I am probably around $4000 a month being purchased online now . Many of my friends now have me looking and finding items they want with huge savings over local prices . I saved one guy $400+ dollars on ATV parts , Local guy wanted $700 , I got em delivered to his door for $264 .
The local business owner had better get his head out of his ass or be ready to close his doors soon . Its only going to get bigger over time .
 
your right
shipping is high sometimes but some states still don't add sales tax. right now I need 11/4 pipe treaded on a deep well. I'll have to find a store locally.
jim
 
I think that you're right Al. I too do most of my big shopping online. In fact I'm on first name terms with both UPS and Fedex drivers.

I still try to shop locally but that seems to be always for little stuff. I did get caught once for excessive shipping charges so now, I always check. The alternative is to burn up $20 of fuel going to the nearest biggish town to look for stuff that I need. It's almost always a trade off and the prices are almost always a LOT better on line.

I do miss looking at and handling stuff before I buy it though. Shopping online takes a lot more time usually because of all the research that you have to do before plonking down big bucks for something. I suppose that's the downside.
 
You should see the Amazon DC they are erecting between Kenosha and Racine. The frickin thing is not only huge, it's wayhuge!

Who needs stores.

Like Al, the only thing we buy at a store these days is food, clothes and an occasional boat or car part that just can't wait.
 
I think a lot of retail outlets, specifically ELECTRONICS STORES will fall by the wayside.

But many others will too. Its too easy to buy a HDTV from Amazon, no need to go to the retail store. Amazon will have it on your doorstep in 48 hours. And smaller electronics are just a no brainer to buy on-line.

So are hiking/camping goods & supplies. Reloading supplies. Etc.

Take camping tents. Go to a big retail sporting goods store and you may find 10 total tents in the store, 1 or 2 for back packing. 2 or 3 giant ones for families from 8'x8' to 12'x12'. Then you'll find a few in-between. But go to an on-line retail and you may find 15 1-person backpacking tents, 15 more for 2-people. Then 15 more for bicycle camping, etc etc etc.

So SPECIALTY items will eventually all be sold over the internet. Some smart retails will have 50 or 100 stores nationwide that stock the goods, but they will use those as 'showrooms' and the internet will be the bulk of their sales.
 
Melensdad said:
I think a lot of retail outlets, specifically ELECTRONICS STORES will fall by the wayside.

But many others will too. Its too easy to buy a HDTV from Amazon, no need to go to the retail store. Amazon will have it on your doorstep in 48 hours. And smaller electronics are just a no brainer to buy on-line.

So are hiking/camping goods & supplies. Reloading supplies. Etc.

Take camping tents. Go to a big retail sporting goods store and you may find 10 total tents in the store, 1 or 2 for back packing. 2 or 3 giant ones for families from 8'x8' to 12'x12'. Then you'll find a few in-between. But go to an on-line retail and you may find 15 1-person backpacking tents, 15 more for 2-people. Then 15 more for bicycle camping, etc etc etc.

So SPECIALTY items will eventually all be sold over the internet. Some smart retails will have 50 or 100 stores nationwide that stock the goods, but they will use those as 'showrooms' and the internet will be the bulk of their sales.
Click to expand...

I signed up for Amazon Prime about three years ago, and got a bit of hassle from Dragonfly Lady about spending the money
for that. We're fine now, as she discovered that the free two-day shipping pays for that membership with only a couple of
orders. I suspect we buy about 60% of our non-food items online, and that may be a low guesstimate.

 
you are righty Bob but I always check prices and compare shipping case in point I had another tire fall apart this weekend ,it now leaves me with no spare. I wont drive out of town with out one. I shopped several places on line . I found my best price including shipping in anchorage at 600 bucks landed in nome ,for 2 16 inch load range e light truck tires. not bf goodrich that name would have cost me another hundred and a half.one problem with living in the bush is some of those cool shipping deals aren't available.
 
Shipping costs are an issue.

But also product selection is a huge issue.

I wanted some backpacking stoves to test out. I was able to find exactly 2 different backpack stoves in my county. Neither of which I wanted. I could have probably driven up to the north side of Chicago to the REI Store up there to find several different brands, and a few from each brand, but that would have cost me 90 minutes of drive time each way plus the cost of the fuel.

There are a lot of different products that fall into a similar fate. In order to get the brand selection you are often forced to shop on-line. No matter how much I may desire to shop locally it is often impossible to do so.
 
I do most of my shopping online as well. If I see something I like or need first place I head for is ebay to see if I can get it cheaper. Specifically parts. Prime example. I did a front wheel bearing myself on my last truck for $65 shipped right to my door on ebay. Took a whopping 35 minutes to change. A month later I was stuck when the other side let go. I brought it to the garage as I didn't have the time or part to do it. $250 for the wheel bearing and 4 hrs Labour later I walked out with a $700 bill.

The same goes for musical instruments. I just bought a guitar and case for $400 off ebay. The same thing in the music store here was $749. I also picked up a mixing sound board for my band for $60. Here it would have cost us $300.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk
 
I haven't checked lately but doesn't WalMart online have a guarantee price match to what's in their stores? It's 99-cent shipping. I can't get 1/5 of the way to the closest WM on 99-cents worth of fuel.
 
Melensdad said:
Shipping costs are an issue.

But also product selection is a huge issue.

I wanted some backpacking stoves to test out. I was able to find exactly 2 different backpack stoves in my county. Neither of which I wanted. I could have probably driven up to the north side of Chicago to the REI Store up there to find several different brands, and a few from each brand, but that would have cost me 90 minutes of drive time each way plus the cost of the fuel.

There are a lot of different products that fall into a similar fate. In order to get the brand selection you are often forced to shop on-line. No matter how much I may desire to shop locally it is often impossible to do so.
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the other thing that can be an issue especially for us up here in the bush is hazmat items. I would love to do some model rocketing or nitro powered cars or planes with the boys problem is getting engines and fuel here ups and fed ex only ship that stuff by ground and there is no ground service on the Iditarod trail. hell I even have the regs. in hand straight from 49cfr part 173 and ups will no longer ship molly resin or gun cote to me making refinishing guns up here impossible now. folks like the late great Pappa Ted had those exceptions written in to the codes so small isolated community's like mine could survive and maybe even produce products on a small scale putting people to work.
 
You know , I have a hard time feelin sorry for the local stores . They "could" expand to using the internet if they wanted to , but I think many are just too damn lazy to try .

Long before the Internet was in use , I took a new hole in the wall business and promoted it to the 13th largest retailer of Automotive Radiators in 3 states on the west coast . I did it by using the yellow pages and matching any price out there . Yea ,,,, there were days I made a whopping 3% profit but the retailers signed on and I never looked back . I can only imagine the kind of success I would had have using the internet .
 
Even though I live in the Valley with retail and wholesale stores all over the place, I still do a lot of shopping on the internet. I can find things cheaper and much less stress using the internet. I've gotten to hate going to a megamall. Six years ago I got trapped in the parking lot just before Christmas. It was a one lane parking structure and the lady in front of me was bound and determined to get that spot. 15 minutes later I had several cars behind me and no one was going anyplace. I've been back to that mall exactly once since then.
 
Like alot of people i do most shopping online and have prime shipping for amazon. The walk in retailers in this area have pushed me more and more In that direction because they dont want to inventory any product. To many times now i have gone to a local shop because i needed it now or wanted to see it. Their answer is always the same we dont have it but we can order it for you. At which point i am forced to tell the dumb ass so can I and have delivered to my doorstep and that just what i end up doing.
 
I recently ordered an auto part online. After asking in the form for my street address to speed delivery....the guy mailed it to my street address with my PO box # staring him in the face... after 5 days it had not moved from 'pre-shipping' in the tracking. I call. He claims it came back to him the next day crushed by PO. Now, he has to order another one. He whined to Paypal about how he would have to "walk it in" to the PO to change to a PO useable address..

If this is the future of shopping , I'll be sticking with real stores where the salesperson has to look you in the eye to ramble off some string of lies about why the part is not in my hand yet.
 
pixie said:
I recently ordered an auto part online. After asking in the form for my street address to speed delivery....the guy mailed it to my street address with my PO box # staring him in the face... after 5 days it had not moved from 'pre-shipping' in the tracking. I call. He claims it came back to him the next day crushed by PO. Now, he has to order another one. He whined to Paypal about how he would have to "walk it in" to the PO to change to a PO useable address..

If this is the future of shopping , I'll be sticking with real stores where the salesperson has to look you in the eye to ramble off some string of lies about why the part is not in my hand yet.
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Pixie I think your experience is often 'typical' of what happens when someone buys from an inexperienced mail order operator.

Some stores offer mail order/electronic store fronts but they don't have a 'real' shipping department or procedures. I honestly try to avoid buying over the internet from those types of sellers. If I can, even if it costs SLIGHTLY more, I will buy from a very trusted seller, like Amazon. Amazon often gets me goods NEXT DAY or in 2 DAYS!

I also avoid websites like ETSY, which sells a lot of really cool stuff, but who's actually sellers behind the website are a disparate lot, some who have quick shipping and some who ship from across the globe by snail caravan.
 
Amazon was the $ame as NAPA and I'd have to go thru their registration again.
It would always be worth extra money to me to be able to return something without having to fart around getting approvals on the internet.

How is a person supposed to be able to tell "an experienced " seller from a not so ??? Their web pages look the same...
 
pixie said:
Amazon was the as NAPA and I'd have to go thru their registration again.
It would always be worth extra money to me to be able to return something without having to fart around getting approvals on the internet.
Click to expand...

FWIW, Amazon pretty much as an instant approval for return, you just print out the form BUT you do have to pay to return it.

But now that you said NAPA its pretty surprising you had a problem with them shipping!
 
It wasn't a problem with NAPA. It was/is a problem with some yahoo in Florida who had the part $25 cheaper.
 
pixie said:
It wasn't a problem with NAPA. It was/is a problem with some yahoo in Florida who had the part $25 cheaper.
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Ahhhh.... and that is the occasional risk.

But that is not the typical on-line experience.
 
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