Why do we bother with shopping the hi-street.

Buying a bed - 12 week wait until delivery.
Buying a settee - 3 month wait for delivery.
Buying a TV - Poor service, faulty goods, wait 24 hours so they can scrape together the refund cash.
Buying a DVD player - incorrect information given by clueless sales assistant.

I could go on!

Compared that with items bought from Amazon for instance.

It always humor me when mentioning I can purchase something 10% cheaper from the net when in a store, with the same standard reply of "we don’t compete with internet stores" well, good luck then I say!


~ ERASER

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Tell me about it. I can even purchase my months food shopping over the Net, and still have it back to my house quicker than if I took the time off work to go to the superstore, search for the stuff I want, queue for ages, and then drive home.



Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

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The only thing that has bugged me, but only very recently, about net purchases is tha fact that i want it *now*!

And some web sites promise me a next day delivery, but don't deliver for three days, maybe more. And that's something that really lets me down and dissapoints me.

- wil

I,m amazed how Amazon how has stayed in business for so long. It dosn't realy seem to make a great deal of money.
shttp://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4362341.htm

Bob
http://totallyfreeads.com.au

What's a settee?

Philip
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Limecat is not pleased.

sofa/couch

I just hope they manage to hang in there - if they go down it will be hard for consumer e-commerce to make it in the future...

Klaus

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http://www.ameinfo.com

Physical stores don't charge you shipping fees for those big items

Hey maybe you just need better stores! I could run out right now and buy a new couch, bed, fridge, etc., and have it delivered tonight - for free (even on Sunday). Order something that big off the net, you're looking at over a $100 for shipping.

But I do a lot of internet shopping as well. For smaller electronic components I prefer to research it online, then find the best price online. That process is a lot easier than spending the day driving around from store to store.

I do buy all my computer gear online. Hmmm, but now that I think about it I did manage to get free shipping on the tv I bought for the computer room through Amazon.

Competition from the internet, in theory, is forcing physical store fronts to provide better services.

You'd be very lucky to find such service in the UK

~ ERASER

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I expect in the US it's much the same. Perhaps a little over exaggeration by AAF :)

If it took 12 weeks or 3 months for delivery, that item would have to be a custom, hand crafted product created from the day it was ordered.

Same day delivery is a common service in all metropolitan areas, and delivery within the week is standard everywhere but the most remote of places.

You wouldn't stay in business in the US with delivery delays like those Eraser describes.

We like fast cars, fast food, fast women, and demand immediate consumer satisfaction (okay one of those may be an exaggeration).

I smell a business opportunity, you could become the king of a "buy it today, deliver it tomorrow" chain of stores across the UK. You''d make millions.

My impression of the UK is that those delivery people get Sunday as a day off work. There is a trade off here, if you want it delivered on Sunday, then someone has to work, I don't want to be that someone. Same for all the 24/7 shopping you can do in the US, I would be willing to give those people some time off rather than the convenience of shopping at midnight. Though shopping at 2 am after closing down the bars was a fun thing in college (but we sure did buy some weird stuff!)

I agree that most internet sights can provide better information than the sales staff at most stores. Regarding electronics sales persons in particular, I find I do not trust them.

Yeah I feel the same. Most of them (that I've encountered) tend to be part time and fairly young, therefore lacking in experience and knowledge. I tend to find that the older the staff member, the more helpful they are.

In the UK shops close at about 5pm on Sundays and the chance of ordering something and having it delivered are pretty much zero unless it is in stock.

AAF said to find better shops, I totally disagree with that. I'd prefer to wait a few weeks and have my item made to order than get it a couple of days later, but receive something that had been sitting in the shop for a few months.

The idea that the shop is bad because you have to wait is bull.

Order a lot of custom made furniture have you? Give me a break.

If you had the choice of having the item you purchased delivered tomorrow, or 12 weeks from now. Which store would you spend your money at?

Well as you haven't clarified which items you are referring to them I can only guess.

Are you talking about a tv, video recorder, sofa, car?...

Any common item you care to purcase; tv, vcr, sofa, computer, toaster, clock, lamp, bookshelf, blender, lawnmower, car, etc.

Hmm I very much doubt you could go out and buy a car on a sunday and have it delivered that evening....well a decent car at least.

Actually, in most cases, you can drive off the lot with a new car the same day...assuming they have one you are willing to buy (color, assessories, style, etc.)

Dave

Hmm its a little different here. It is rare that a dealer has the exact spec you want, and if they do it is normally being held for someone else.

I'm not sure if this is the norm but when my mum and dad buy cars we wait several months as they are made to order.

In most car lots here in the States (at least in Texas), they have a tremendous amount of cars (acres) available at anytime. Most Euro/UK lots I've seen are really small (at least comparatively) with little on-hand inventory. It does take weeks here to if they don't have one available there or at a nearby lot.

I've driven off the lot a couple of times only after 2-3 hours of test driving a vehicle.

Dave

Here if the dealer you're at doesn't have the vehicle specs you want, another dealer most likely will. The vehicle can then be brought in from within the state or region within a couple of days.

On your own you can locate just about any model of new vehicle you want, with options, through the major manufacturer sites. There are some advantages to having a population of a quarter billion...plenty of car dealerships with inventory to chose from. On the down side, there car dealerships everywhere

So if we look back at the topic, maybe it should be "how physical stores are using the internet to drive their sales". Some do it really well.

I test drove my truck home, drove it back to the dealership the next morning and bought it. Of course they were pretty sure I was going to buy it before I drove it home.

Yeah, same experience here, although it was a used car. I test drove a 92 Chevy Lumina nearly identical to my dads, and bought it the next day. Spent $4k on nearly mint condition 10 year old car with only 30k miles on it. All original parts The best money I ever spent.

Philip
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Limecat is not pleased.

My point is now the Internet has shown us how 'instant' and efficient service can be had, you would think the traditional stores would update their practices, in some way or another, to compete with the new fast moving world of consumer shopping. This is probably why you get the generic reply of "we don’t compete with Internet stores" simply because they're too confused on how to meet the new challenges and change the traditional 'old way' of doing things.

The shop my friend ordered a bed from is not a small Joes bed supplies type of outfit, but a major well known billion pound company for home furnishings. Within 5 minutes I found 3 bedding sites on the net pledging delivery and supply times of 7 days - 83 day quicker than the high street store!

Bad no, but not to good either - is it?

~ ERASER

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