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One item that always struck me as something these large retailers should do to leverage their physical locations is to provide same/next day delivery. With the

One item that always struck me as something these large retailers should do to leverage their physical locations is to provide same/next day delivery. With the ability to pick up the item in store same day when ordering it online what stops them from delivering it. It would require a large investment in delivery vehicles and drivers, but some of these stores have some of that already. Sears has it because they deliver appliances and Best Buy with their Geek Squad technicians. Some businesses do this for other businesses. Staples, Napa, OfficeMax, etc. Why not extend this to the consumer. I would venture to guess they feel that there is no ROI. But if people are not going in the store, give them a reason to buy from you anyways.

dazc 11y ago
In the UK we have a retailer trying this. They are somewhat unique though as their physical stores are already more of a warehouse than a regular shop. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/05/amazon-and-argos-go-head-to-head-with-same-day-delivery http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/05/amazon-and... We have dept stores such as John Lewis that have done well integrating their business online but delivering goods to the home same day is something they would struggle to do economically. They have already had problems with click and collect http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/01/john-lewis-to-charge-for-click-and-collect http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/01/john-lewis-t...
hapless 11y ago
Staples is primarily a delivery business. The stores exist to drive and sell the B2B services. They don't deliver to consumers because consumers don't need enough office supplies to make it worthwhile.
- janesvilleseo 11y ago
  True, but they have the infrastructure built, what stops them from extending it to consumers?
  - zyxley 11y ago
    Presumably because it would cost more to pay the delivery drivers for small orders than they would gain in profit from the orders.
MrTonyD 11y ago
A wacky idea: I'd like to see some product lines and perhaps some product types protected by law - so that they can only be sold at physical stores and not online. The idea is to get a minimal subset of products so that physical stores can stay in business. Ideally, these would be products where there is a benefit to buying them in-person (perhaps product expertise, fitting, visual considerations, or shipping.) I understand that France still has bookstores because they set minimum pricing on ebooks. Perhaps a more "fine grained" approach might work to keep some US business alive. (Though I would also require community ownership and community management - we have enough billionaires trying to maximize profit at our expense.)
- elbigbad 11y ago
  Just so I'm clear, you're saying that there should be a law where some goods cannot be sold online and have to be sold in stores only. And the purpose of this is to prop brick and mortar businesses up so they can stay in business?
  - MrTonyD 11y ago
    Yes. There are some products that are better purchased in person. Looking at this from a strictly analytic perspective, we could build distributions for each characteristic of a particular product. We would expect that some products would benefit the seller or distributor by being sold in person, and some products would benefit the buyer by being sold in person. There could be a case argued that society would be better served by both keeping some physical stores around and protecting some products so that they can be sold in those stores. It seems to me that philosophical arguments tend to ignore that different products have different characteristics - and those characteristics impact our society.
    - douche 11y ago
      If buying those products in person really provides more utility than buying them through the internet, sure, those stores will stick around. Most things aren't that way, however, and it is only going to get worse as one and same-day delivery becomes more widespread. Particularly since brick-and-mortar stores have cut inventory to the bone, so you never know if they'll actually have what you need at any time. I'm down to only going in a store for perishable groceries and the occasional hardware store purchase when I run out of something in the middle of a project. Everything (and I'm not kidding) else, it's more efficient and less aggravating to grab on Amazon and use Prime two-day shipping. If VR finally becomes a real thing, in 5-10 years appliance and furniture showroom stores might well be obsolete.

dazc 11y ago

In the UK we have a retailer trying this. They are somewhat unique though as their physical stores are already more of a warehouse than a regular shop. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/05/amazon-and-argos-go-head-to-head-with-same-day-delivery http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/05/amazon-and... We have dept stores such as John Lewis that have done well integrating their business online but delivering goods to the home same day is something they would struggle to do economically. They have already had problems with click and collect http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/01/john-lewis-to-charge-for-click-and-collect http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/01/john-lewis-t...

hapless 11y ago

Staples is primarily a delivery business. The stores exist to drive and sell the B2B services. They don't deliver to consumers because consumers don't need enough office supplies to make it worthwhile.

janesvilleseo 11y ago
True, but they have the infrastructure built, what stops them from extending it to consumers?
- zyxley 11y ago
  Presumably because it would cost more to pay the delivery drivers for small orders than they would gain in profit from the orders.

MrTonyD 11y ago

A wacky idea: I'd like to see some product lines and perhaps some product types protected by law - so that they can only be sold at physical stores and not online. The idea is to get a minimal subset of products so that physical stores can stay in business. Ideally, these would be products where there is a benefit to buying them in-person (perhaps product expertise, fitting, visual considerations, or shipping.) I understand that France still has bookstores because they set minimum pricing on ebooks. Perhaps a more "fine grained" approach might work to keep some US business alive. (Though I would also require community ownership and community management - we have enough billionaires trying to maximize profit at our expense.)

elbigbad 11y ago
Just so I'm clear, you're saying that there should be a law where some goods cannot be sold online and have to be sold in stores only. And the purpose of this is to prop brick and mortar businesses up so they can stay in business?
- MrTonyD 11y ago
  Yes. There are some products that are better purchased in person. Looking at this from a strictly analytic perspective, we could build distributions for each characteristic of a particular product. We would expect that some products would benefit the seller or distributor by being sold in person, and some products would benefit the buyer by being sold in person. There could be a case argued that society would be better served by both keeping some physical stores around and protecting some products so that they can be sold in those stores. It seems to me that philosophical arguments tend to ignore that different products have different characteristics - and those characteristics impact our society.
  - douche 11y ago
    If buying those products in person really provides more utility than buying them through the internet, sure, those stores will stick around. Most things aren't that way, however, and it is only going to get worse as one and same-day delivery becomes more widespread. Particularly since brick-and-mortar stores have cut inventory to the bone, so you never know if they'll actually have what you need at any time. I'm down to only going in a store for perishable groceries and the occasional hardware store purchase when I run out of something in the middle of a project. Everything (and I'm not kidding) else, it's more efficient and less aggravating to grab on Amazon and use Prime two-day shipping. If VR finally becomes a real thing, in 5-10 years appliance and furniture showroom stores might well be obsolete.