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Okay, but there's the old Amazon's showroom problem. People go to the store, look at the thing, then, maybe buy it online anyway, for any number of reasons. Ne

Okay, but there's the old Amazon's showroom problem. People go to the store, look at the thing, then, maybe buy it online anyway, for any number of reasons. Net effect, physical locations become showrooms that move very little actual product, and fail to close the expected number of sales.

kreutz 8y ago
They buy online because of the difficulty surrounding getting it home - with that problem fixed I imagine the Amazon showroom problem is no longer a problem.
gk1 8y ago
I think that's exactly what parent is suggesting: The physical store should be for letting people try and touch items, before they buy them from your website. Warby Parker, Bonobos, and (in some states) Tesla already do this.
- scarface74 8y ago
  That’s fine if you are selling your own product in the store and online. Apple doesn’t care if you use thier store as a showroom and buy an iPhone from the carrier. That doesn’t work if you are Best Buy.
  - nordsieck 8y ago
    >> The physical store should be for letting people try and touch items, before they buy them from your website. > That doesn’t work if you are Best Buy. Apparently it does work if you're Best Buy. > we price match products shipped from and sold by these major online retailers: Amazon.com ... https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-topics/best-buy-price-match-guarantee/pcmcat297300050000.c?id=pcmcat297300050000 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-topics/best-buy-price-matc...
    - travmatt 8y ago
      If I’m understanding your comment correctly, you believe the fact that Best Buy has been forced to price match as a way to stop losing business is evidence that they’re not losing business?
      - zeta0134 8y ago
        Nah, it's that Best Buy doesn't make most of its money on the items they price match. Their big sellers are their mobile department and all the accessories folks like to pick up with their new purchase, which are very often store exclusives and have incredibly high margins. They make a killing on chargers, adapters, phone cases, you name it, but actually make tiny margins on a lot of their "core" items. The big ticket item they price match is often kicked back by the vendor anyway, so the store doesn't lose out when they do it. Their goal is just to get folks in the door, and let the momentum of a good sales interaction close the deal. (Questionable on the "good," they're admittedly not very good at screening / training, but in aggregate this strategy works well for them.) Best Buy price matches because it gets people in the store. I don't believe for a second that they did it in response to losing business to online storefronts; rather, I think it's far more likely that they did it in response to other retail chains doing the same. Their customers came to expect it, so they obliged, as a marketing tactic to make sure their retail competition didn't have that as an edge. Their price match policy is also pretty strict; they won't match just anything on Amazon, it has to have some degree of verification and be from a trusted seller. (Especially for things like iPads / common fake listings, etc.) Last time I checked it had to be "Sold and shipped by Amazon" but that might have changed, it's been a while. (Source: I worked at a Best Buy store for about 4 years.)
    - bsder 8y ago
      Best Buy specifically has their house brand of many common things (chargers, cables, etc.) and refuse to price match those.
      - scarface74 8y ago
        And for some products like TVs, I’m sure they have thier own custom model number for third party brands.
  - toyg 8y ago
    It works if you make it easy enough to complete the transaction right there and then. One of my pet peeves is something bookstores should do: have a simple way to buy ebook versions of the in-store books, so you get some of that money. Sure, after finding a nice book in your showroom I could bring up Amazon on my phone, search for the book, then bring up your website, search for the book, compare prices, then go through checkout; or you could give me an app to scan a barcode that will bring up the book and a Buy Now button that triggers Apple Pay. At that point, I simply cannot be arsed to look at Amazon just to save $2, like most people cannot be arsed to pirate music when iTunes and spotify are painless.
- gedy 8y ago
  That doesn't work if Amazon, et al can charge less than you can charge to "showroom" them for. People don't pay for expertise, etc online, they buy the cheapest.
  - bobthepanda 8y ago
    Chain stores are like car dealerships; you don't actually need them to sell branded products, they're just a middleman that makes it easier if you don't care about that type of stuff. The rise of Amazon, and the rise of brands that 100% own the physical display of their wares and don't use Amazon (e.g., Warby Parker), are putting the middlemen out of business. Unless you offer some customer service experience that is hard to duplicate (independent bookstores and their curation, Sephora with its makeup gurus, etc.) your middleman store is going to have a rough time.
lozaning 8y ago
Sounds like someone needs to Start-Up a showroom for electronics. Im imagining that the model would be to charge flat rate fees to device manufacturers for floor space on the showroom. If you remove the need to drive revenue from end user purchases it wouldn't matte where they actually buy.
- swimfar 8y ago
  They have a few stores like this in the Bay Area. I think it's a great idea, but I haven't been to one yet. https://b8ta.com/ https://b8ta.com/
  - ihartley 8y ago
    They're interesting. The one by me feels like a sharper image with 20 products, but they're fairly high quality/price. They seem to have about 20% turnover of new products every time I drop in which is maybe every two months or so. The products seems somewhat split between things I'd want to see before I bought, some of which made me not want to buy them, and things I wouldn't: I do want to see digital picture frames to see they still haven't gotten the resolution high enough, and I liked being able to try bone-conduction headphones without having to buy them, but I don't need to see wifi routers in person before I buy one.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
luddaite 8y ago
I've recently started doing the opposite. I'll search Amazon to see what products are recommended and see if I can find those (or something similar) in local stores. This is particularly true when I am buying something that I don't know much about. I basically use Amazon as initial research to discover what properties I should be looking for in an item.
- SyneRyder 8y ago
  Same here. I was looking for items on the new Amazon Australia, then noticed one of the stores selling on Amazon is just a couple of train stops away from me. It made me realize I should check their own website, and they'll sell it to me for $50 cheaper if I don't go through Amazon ($65 if I include the shipping).
technobabble 8y ago
Sears, despite their bumblings, had a half-baked solution to this. At some of them, you'd pick the product on a showroom floor, grab a ticket (like for a meat counter), then, at a waiting area by the entrance, you'd have your fridge/washer/air conditioner wheeled out to your car.
ppseafield 8y ago
Best Buy for instance does price matching with Amazon, so if you're already there, you can buy it now vs. waiting on a package.

kreutz 8y ago

They buy online because of the difficulty surrounding getting it home - with that problem fixed I imagine the Amazon showroom problem is no longer a problem.

gk1 8y ago

I think that's exactly what parent is suggesting: The physical store should be for letting people try and touch items, before they buy them from your website. Warby Parker, Bonobos, and (in some states) Tesla already do this.

scarface74 8y ago
That’s fine if you are selling your own product in the store and online. Apple doesn’t care if you use thier store as a showroom and buy an iPhone from the carrier. That doesn’t work if you are Best Buy.
- nordsieck 8y ago
  >> The physical store should be for letting people try and touch items, before they buy them from your website. > That doesn’t work if you are Best Buy. Apparently it does work if you're Best Buy. > we price match products shipped from and sold by these major online retailers: Amazon.com ... https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-topics/best-buy-price-match-guarantee/pcmcat297300050000.c?id=pcmcat297300050000 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-topics/best-buy-price-matc...
  - travmatt 8y ago
    If I’m understanding your comment correctly, you believe the fact that Best Buy has been forced to price match as a way to stop losing business is evidence that they’re not losing business?
    - zeta0134 8y ago
      Nah, it's that Best Buy doesn't make most of its money on the items they price match. Their big sellers are their mobile department and all the accessories folks like to pick up with their new purchase, which are very often store exclusives and have incredibly high margins. They make a killing on chargers, adapters, phone cases, you name it, but actually make tiny margins on a lot of their "core" items. The big ticket item they price match is often kicked back by the vendor anyway, so the store doesn't lose out when they do it. Their goal is just to get folks in the door, and let the momentum of a good sales interaction close the deal. (Questionable on the "good," they're admittedly not very good at screening / training, but in aggregate this strategy works well for them.) Best Buy price matches because it gets people in the store. I don't believe for a second that they did it in response to losing business to online storefronts; rather, I think it's far more likely that they did it in response to other retail chains doing the same. Their customers came to expect it, so they obliged, as a marketing tactic to make sure their retail competition didn't have that as an edge. Their price match policy is also pretty strict; they won't match just anything on Amazon, it has to have some degree of verification and be from a trusted seller. (Especially for things like iPads / common fake listings, etc.) Last time I checked it had to be "Sold and shipped by Amazon" but that might have changed, it's been a while. (Source: I worked at a Best Buy store for about 4 years.)
  - bsder 8y ago
    Best Buy specifically has their house brand of many common things (chargers, cables, etc.) and refuse to price match those.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      And for some products like TVs, I’m sure they have thier own custom model number for third party brands.
- toyg 8y ago
  It works if you make it easy enough to complete the transaction right there and then. One of my pet peeves is something bookstores should do: have a simple way to buy ebook versions of the in-store books, so you get some of that money. Sure, after finding a nice book in your showroom I could bring up Amazon on my phone, search for the book, then bring up your website, search for the book, compare prices, then go through checkout; or you could give me an app to scan a barcode that will bring up the book and a Buy Now button that triggers Apple Pay. At that point, I simply cannot be arsed to look at Amazon just to save $2, like most people cannot be arsed to pirate music when iTunes and spotify are painless.
gedy 8y ago
That doesn't work if Amazon, et al can charge less than you can charge to "showroom" them for. People don't pay for expertise, etc online, they buy the cheapest.
- bobthepanda 8y ago
  Chain stores are like car dealerships; you don't actually need them to sell branded products, they're just a middleman that makes it easier if you don't care about that type of stuff. The rise of Amazon, and the rise of brands that 100% own the physical display of their wares and don't use Amazon (e.g., Warby Parker), are putting the middlemen out of business. Unless you offer some customer service experience that is hard to duplicate (independent bookstores and their curation, Sephora with its makeup gurus, etc.) your middleman store is going to have a rough time.

lozaning 8y ago

Sounds like someone needs to Start-Up a showroom for electronics. Im imagining that the model would be to charge flat rate fees to device manufacturers for floor space on the showroom. If you remove the need to drive revenue from end user purchases it wouldn't matte where they actually buy.

swimfar 8y ago
They have a few stores like this in the Bay Area. I think it's a great idea, but I haven't been to one yet. https://b8ta.com/ https://b8ta.com/
- ihartley 8y ago
  They're interesting. The one by me feels like a sharper image with 20 products, but they're fairly high quality/price. They seem to have about 20% turnover of new products every time I drop in which is maybe every two months or so. The products seems somewhat split between things I'd want to see before I bought, some of which made me not want to buy them, and things I wouldn't: I do want to see digital picture frames to see they still haven't gotten the resolution high enough, and I liked being able to try bone-conduction headphones without having to buy them, but I don't need to see wifi routers in person before I buy one.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

luddaite 8y ago

I've recently started doing the opposite. I'll search Amazon to see what products are recommended and see if I can find those (or something similar) in local stores. This is particularly true when I am buying something that I don't know much about. I basically use Amazon as initial research to discover what properties I should be looking for in an item.

SyneRyder 8y ago
Same here. I was looking for items on the new Amazon Australia, then noticed one of the stores selling on Amazon is just a couple of train stops away from me. It made me realize I should check their own website, and they'll sell it to me for $50 cheaper if I don't go through Amazon ($65 if I include the shipping).

technobabble 8y ago

Sears, despite their bumblings, had a half-baked solution to this. At some of them, you'd pick the product on a showroom floor, grab a ticket (like for a meat counter), then, at a waiting area by the entrance, you'd have your fridge/washer/air conditioner wheeled out to your car.

ppseafield 8y ago

Best Buy for instance does price matching with Amazon, so if you're already there, you can buy it now vs. waiting on a package.