5 ms·

So maybe that's true of books, music and computer software - but those things are often best experienced digitally anyways, many people consume them solely as d

So maybe that's true of books, music and computer software - but those things are often best experienced digitally anyways, many people consume them solely as digital goods. But when I need clothes, car parts, electronic components, computer parts, any physical product with a non-zero chance of failure or an immediate desire really - knowing I can try something on or walk in 10 minutes later and return something and get it replaced on the spot is a killer feature - one that online shopping cannot replace. I'd go so far as to argue that real stores are always better than online stores - online stores can only win on price and selection. For every other metric around, delivery time, replacement effort, ability to compare and to try, there's just no replacement.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
xyzzyz 9y ago
For every other metric around, delivery time, replacement effort, ability to compare and to try, there's just no replacement. For me, very often the delivery time is less important than time spent shopping. If you want/need something, but not immediately, it is much less effort to click "Buy" on Amazon, and get the item in 2 days, than to spend an hour on driving to the store, walking around to find whatever item you want, waiting in line to make a purchase, and then driving back.
- Unkechaug 9y ago
  Agreed! There are very few things I need immediately, and to be honest by the time I have enough time to make a trip over to a mall I could have ordered and it would have been delivered already.
jamesrcole 9y ago
> But when I need clothes, car parts, electronic components, computer parts, any physical product with a non-zero chance of failure or an immediate desire really - knowing I can try something on or walk in 10 minutes later and return something and get it replaced on the spot is a killer feature - one that online shopping cannot replace For most people, getting ready to go out, getting to the mall, parking, walking to the store, browsing, buying, then getting home - the total amount of time required for that is way more than ten or twenty minutes. Re "non-zero chance of failure", that doesnt mean that there's necessarily much of a chance of failure, so plenty of these are fine to get online
Arizhel 9y ago
You act like price and selection aren't that important. They really are. Electronic components? How can you even buy those locally? Radio Shack is dead, and never was that great anyway; if you want components, digikey.com and mouser.com is where you go. Computer parts you can get far cheaper on newegg.com and various other sites, and that isn't something you should worry about failing either (same with electronic components). Auto parts too are something you can get far cheaper online. 1/3 the price of Autozone is worth it even if there's a chance it might go bad early for many people, and for new high-reliability things like spark plugs and filters and brake pads, it's silly to pay high local prices. (But no one can beat Walmart for oil.) There's definitely some things that do work out pretty well to buy online: clothing and shoes are the biggest ones. Kitchenwares are also no cheaper online, according to my recent experiences. I think the big factor is how much volume do people buy locally. Pots and pans are things that just about everyone buys, so local works out there. However, how many people need brake pads for a 1993 Volvo 840 in your local area? Online shopping's biggest strength has long been getting obscure parts that just aren't profitable for local stores to keep in stock. It's not profitable for your local Autozone to carry weird parts for decades' worth of dozens of manufacturers' cars, and for the Autozone 10 miles away to have all the same stuff, but it is easily profitable for one business with a warehouse somewhere to stock this stuff and be ready to ship it anywhere in the country on-demand. No, local stores do not win on delivery time when they have to special-order stuff for you and you have to make another trip to go pick it up instead of just having Fedex drop it at your doorstep.
- problems 9y ago
  Local stores (Active Electronics, Canada Computers) have comparable prices to online and often even beat Newegg prices - even without shipping. And even when they're a bit more, I'll pay an extra $20 to have that graphics card today and know I can return it if it's DoA without a hassle. Of course there are exceptions and extreme price differences where it's worth it to go online, but if it's within 10% or 15%, or sufficiently cheap in general, I'll probably take a store. Shipping often involves going out of my way to pick something up because no one is at my house during the day and even the local post service decides to drop things off in the next town over. Often I have to wait an extra day just for it to show up there and go through a huge hassle to pick something up. Of course with more obscure stuff or a large price difference, you'll choose online, but in my experience that's surprisingly rare - I shop everything major I buy around and with smaller stuff it just makes more sense to go local. I order IEMs and some electronic components, things I can predict needing in advance direct from China for price and that's about it. I've never placed an amazon order in my life, their prices and selection just aren't competitive in my experience - but I suspect mostly that's because Amazon Canada is a lot worse than Amazon US.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

xyzzyz 9y ago

For every other metric around, delivery time, replacement effort, ability to compare and to try, there's just no replacement. For me, very often the delivery time is less important than time spent shopping. If you want/need something, but not immediately, it is much less effort to click "Buy" on Amazon, and get the item in 2 days, than to spend an hour on driving to the store, walking around to find whatever item you want, waiting in line to make a purchase, and then driving back.

Unkechaug 9y ago
Agreed! There are very few things I need immediately, and to be honest by the time I have enough time to make a trip over to a mall I could have ordered and it would have been delivered already.

jamesrcole 9y ago

> But when I need clothes, car parts, electronic components, computer parts, any physical product with a non-zero chance of failure or an immediate desire really - knowing I can try something on or walk in 10 minutes later and return something and get it replaced on the spot is a killer feature - one that online shopping cannot replace For most people, getting ready to go out, getting to the mall, parking, walking to the store, browsing, buying, then getting home - the total amount of time required for that is way more than ten or twenty minutes. Re "non-zero chance of failure", that doesnt mean that there's necessarily much of a chance of failure, so plenty of these are fine to get online

Arizhel 9y ago

You act like price and selection aren't that important. They really are. Electronic components? How can you even buy those locally? Radio Shack is dead, and never was that great anyway; if you want components, digikey.com and mouser.com is where you go. Computer parts you can get far cheaper on newegg.com and various other sites, and that isn't something you should worry about failing either (same with electronic components). Auto parts too are something you can get far cheaper online. 1/3 the price of Autozone is worth it even if there's a chance it might go bad early for many people, and for new high-reliability things like spark plugs and filters and brake pads, it's silly to pay high local prices. (But no one can beat Walmart for oil.) There's definitely some things that do work out pretty well to buy online: clothing and shoes are the biggest ones. Kitchenwares are also no cheaper online, according to my recent experiences. I think the big factor is how much volume do people buy locally. Pots and pans are things that just about everyone buys, so local works out there. However, how many people need brake pads for a 1993 Volvo 840 in your local area? Online shopping's biggest strength has long been getting obscure parts that just aren't profitable for local stores to keep in stock. It's not profitable for your local Autozone to carry weird parts for decades' worth of dozens of manufacturers' cars, and for the Autozone 10 miles away to have all the same stuff, but it is easily profitable for one business with a warehouse somewhere to stock this stuff and be ready to ship it anywhere in the country on-demand. No, local stores do not win on delivery time when they have to special-order stuff for you and you have to make another trip to go pick it up instead of just having Fedex drop it at your doorstep.

problems 9y ago
Local stores (Active Electronics, Canada Computers) have comparable prices to online and often even beat Newegg prices - even without shipping. And even when they're a bit more, I'll pay an extra $20 to have that graphics card today and know I can return it if it's DoA without a hassle. Of course there are exceptions and extreme price differences where it's worth it to go online, but if it's within 10% or 15%, or sufficiently cheap in general, I'll probably take a store. Shipping often involves going out of my way to pick something up because no one is at my house during the day and even the local post service decides to drop things off in the next town over. Often I have to wait an extra day just for it to show up there and go through a huge hassle to pick something up. Of course with more obscure stuff or a large price difference, you'll choose online, but in my experience that's surprisingly rare - I shop everything major I buy around and with smaller stuff it just makes more sense to go local. I order IEMs and some electronic components, things I can predict needing in advance direct from China for price and that's about it. I've never placed an amazon order in my life, their prices and selection just aren't competitive in my experience - but I suspect mostly that's because Amazon Canada is a lot worse than Amazon US.