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Comment by chris100 | Hacker News Reader

Internet prices and retail is actually something I have been thinking about recently. Someone, please help me with the economics.

What if a retail store offered great advice and let you order online so you get the best Internet price?

One reason why I almost never visit a retail store anymore is because the best deal is always online.

So rather than take it as a challenge for retail, embrace it. Can one build a retail business that relies on ordering stuff from the cheapest online retailers?

I can think of the obvious reasons why not. But if you think creatively, wouldn't that make sense? Even the cheapest online retailers offer some kind of referral compensation. There may be other ways to make money than making a profit on the big ticket item that your visitor came in to order...

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Amazon affiliate revenues go up to 9%. I'm sure you could negotiate something similar with other providers.

Possibly you could offer people an guided Internet shopping experience in the mall - people come in and, with the help of an 'Internet shopping expert', buy things at Internet prices for later delivery. As you suggest you could monetize by collecting the affiliate commission.

If running a kiosk in a small mall cost you $20,000 a month (?) you would need to persuade people to buy ~1,000 $200 TVs a month.

The biggest barrier I can see would be overcoming the hostility from the other stores who would be really keen to kick you out once they spotted what you were doing. Because they occupy more square feet I'm sure mall management would oblige.

The biggest barrier I can see would be overcoming the hostility from the other stores

If that's the only problem, you could just open your retail store outside a mall, where no one can bother you.

Think El Camino in Silicon Valley. If you have the best value (unbeatable price and good service), you should have a winner, right?

What you would need to do is start a retail store that either:

A) Sold the product at a price competitive to the online retailers (competitive can mean price or value-add services like knowledgeable salespeople, free delivery, etc.)

B) Provided great advice, directed a customer to the cheapest internet price and then had a value-add service. The store would then get paid via the internet store from which the item was purchased. The problem with this approach is that after time it would be beneficial (in the short term) for the retail store to direct customers to whichever online store gave the retail store the best kick back.

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