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I expect to eventually see big retail outlets where there is only stock for trying things out. No buying at the store but you could complete your online order w
by robryan 14y ago
I expect to eventually see big retail outlets where there is only stock for trying things out. No buying at the store but you could complete your online order while at the store and have it same day/ next day.
- mseebach 14y agoThere's no reason why this would be "big retail outlets" and not smaller boutiques. When you don't have to stock 5-15 pcs each of 30 flatscreen TVs, the local high-street enthusiast who actually knows stuff and can give you advice could see a renaissance. He doesn't even have to stock one of each, as "That one, but in 32 inches" is a viable order.
- dharbin 14y agoAnd the store makes money off of amazon affiliate links?
- MBCook 14y agoDoes anyone here remember catalog stores? That may not be the right name, I've only been in one once, and it has to have been over 15 years. You'd go in the store and look at the merchandise, all of it in glass cases. You'd use a little golf pencil to mark the order sheet they gave you at the door for what you wanted. When you were done shopping, you'd give your form to the guy at the register. They'd ring you up and someone in the back of the store would collect all the stuff you just bought from the warehouse racks and bring it out for you. I was amazed something like that existed in the 90s. I have a hard time envisioning that we'd see something like that again. I mean that's how grocery stores worked once, but the market changed with self-service. I'll occasionally "window shop" at stores, but I only do that if I know the prices are really different. If it's a $10 difference and I'm already in the store, why wait for someone to ship it to me, even if it arrives later that day?
- rachelbythebay 14y agoService Merchandise and BEST, right? I never figured out why they both went out of business. They should have been able to offer a huge inventory with hardly any overhead.
- MBCook 14y agoThat's it! It was Service Merchandise.
- Kadin 14y agoI think Lechmere (regional electronics and homewares store in New England) was similar, at least for some products. You could play with a display model, but to buy one you'd take a ticket to the counter and pay, then go to a pickup counter to get the actual item. It left the store shelves looking a lot less cluttered than they would have otherwise been, and I suspect also protected against shoplifting. Always liked that store, actually. They sold all sorts of stuff.
- pbhjpbhj 14y agoWe have this in the UK still. A major one [Index] went out of business a few years ago (8?) but Argos still run this way. Indeed Tesco now have a version of this [for consumer electronics+household goods] in some of their largest stores.
- robryan 14y ago$10 yeah. It is more if the difference was hundreds or the increased range of not carrying buyable stock gave you access to many times you didn't before.
- brc 14y agoIKEA is still essentially this concept to this day, only the customer picks their own goods. In the UK there is a big chain called Argos which still does this, right down to the employees fetching the goods. This might be related to the fact that big-box retail space in the UK is much harder to come by.