Stores Confront New World of Reduced Shopper Traffic | Hacker News Reader

Stores Confront New World of Reduced Shopper Traffic

online.wsj.com

30 pointsprostoalex15 comments

  [people] seem to be figuring out what they want online then making
  targeted trips to pick it up from retailers that offer the best price.

Partly. Price can be a factor, but for me, time is often more important. Specifically, if I can't readily determine that a store has what I want in stock, I'm not going to make the trip.

Agreed. I tend to frequent stores more that have a web-based interface to a store's inventory. The best of these that I go to semi-regularly are Home Depot and Lowe's, but there are a surprising number of other stores that have no way to check availability.

Stores are confronting the reality that they lose when they don't offer anything the online experience lacks. Best Buy complains of reduced shoppers. But the MicroCenter near me is always packed. I think it's because they have really outstanding sales people and have a wide array of products that even online aren't easy to find. If I wanted to shop at Best Buy I face limited selection and apathetic and unskilled sales staff (which is a worse experience than Newegg or Amazon).

If Best Buy staff were merely apathetic and unskilled I might still shop there. Instead, they seem to actively go out their way to piss me off. But maybe that's what you mean by unskilled. :-) I used to go there when I needed something that day. Then I decided that there's nothing I need so quickly that I'm willing to put up with Best Buy. So Amazon or Newegg it is.

I'll just comment on Best Buy specifically.

1. Person ringing up your items would ask you if you wanted to subscribe to magazines for free but they never told you it was actually for 6 months before they start charging you.

2. Selling older TV models and other stuff when they could get away with that. Most laptops were semi-new but otherwise I would never go to BB to buy (for example) a refrigerator because the people there don't know shit about it and are probably trying to sell me last year's model at this year's prices.

3. Geek Squad is terrible and I don't want to look it up but I'm betting there are hundreds of, "please don't reformat my laptop HD" stories where they end up doing it anyways.

4. UPSELLING ME ON EXTENDED WARRANTIES... for a USB cable (while back but just replace it now with HDMI cable) that I had to buy because I needed it immediately.

So I can either get something on Amazon, maybe lookup reviews from another site, and then click buy and get it within 2-3 days, _OR_ I can go through with the above. Yeah, No thanks. That's why you lose customers Best Buy, not just because of online. Your stores are run like shit and then you treat most of your customers like shit.

>for a USB cable

And selling it to you for literally +2000% on cost. Seems these days things like cables or headphones are ridiculously marked up. You visit dealextreme and suddenly you realize; yeah, I've been doing it critically wrong.

The article talks about customers who "showroom" -- use the physical store to learn more about a product, then buy it from an online retailer.

I often go to an online store to learn more about a product (pricing, reviews, pictures), then buy it in person from a B&M (brick & mortar). I call this "reverse showroom" [1]. Does anyone else do this?

Benefits include:

- B&M retailers accept cash which is convenient and maximizes my privacy

- I can get the product right away

- I don't have to worry about goods left outside suffering from the elements or theft

- Returning a non-functioning product is usually simple and free

B&M marketing should stress these benefits.

[1] A term I just made up.

Online still can't compete with shoppers that once something same day. That's where they should focus, not price.

Google Express is doing very well at exactly that.

As is Amazon Fresh.

Here in China, at least in tier-1 cities, same-day delivery is common for groceries and, to a lesser extent, for electronics and books.

IIRC one of the large multiple-category online retailers promises delivery within 4 hours if you order by 11am.

Where do you order groceries? I live in Shanghai, if it matters.

1号店 (http://www.yhd.com/) and Amazon (http://z.cn/)

(Disclaimer: I work at Amazon)

I wonder if the delivery industry is only going to get bigger, and actually employ more humans, considering scenarios like yours. I guess with drones and self driving cars it can be utterly automated, but really that won't happen for at least 5 years and only in top tier cities.

I've always respected the delivery/transport industry. It's just so utterly necessary and will always be such.

In Canada, Walmart.ca was experimenting with same-day delivery, as are a few other retailers. We don't have weekend delivery at all, however.

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