Brick an mortar business plan vs amazon: the convenience store mentality?

[markstanco 12,653]

Two cases:

 

A few months ago I needed a fish finder. On Amazon it was $300 less that academy. Academy matches the price and an additional 8 off.

 

Today, I was buying a dock for my surface pro that was 128 on amazon, and 199 at best buy. They matched the price.

 

Think about that....128 online vs 199 in a store. That's an increase of what, 50, 55% increase? Amazing.

 

I have no point here, but box stores are banking on retards not price checking? Or are they banking on the consumer being in emergency mode and needing the product immediately? Its nuts. I would never buy a product from a box store with any real value (tv, computer, etc) without a quick google.

[RMac5 1,551]

Completely agree, not to mention the dick heads you have to deal with at the brick and mortar. I try and support local businesses but refuse to put up with shitty service at a higher price.

 

[6th Street 6,573]

Prices being equal, the only real reason to go brick or mortar is if you need said item right away. Otherwise with 1-day prime, there is no reason to waste time going to the store when it can be delivered to your door for free. 

[clapclapclap 9,000]

Quote

Brick an mortar

Yes, it's true, this man has no d.

[52-80 19,277]

Different people, different mentality.

 

I buy tons and tons of shit.  But I want to feel like I have get the best deals.  So I buy shit online and wait for delivery.  Wife rarely buys stuff, but when she wants things she wants things. 

[Your Mom 4,868]

Online as much as possible.  I buy a lot of random shit. A new jacket, a backpack for my kid, a random power tool I’ll use once, shoes, sunglasses case, pocket knife, new CamelBak bladder...I keep a running list on my phone of things i see that I want or think I need.  Amazon is at my front door twice a week on average and that will go up when I probably start using them for grocery shopping. As it is now Instacart is also at my front door about once a week.

I cherish my days off, I take as many of them as I can afford to and I don’t want to waste them running errands, grocery shopping, stopping by random stores, etc..  even if something was cheaper at the brick and mortar it would have to be a LOT cheaper to make me want to not order it online.  

[Buzzrock 15,026]

The flip side is that Prime isn’t free, even with the $99 per year subsidy. There are occasions where something I want is cheaper at Lowe’s or Target, and I’m going to be driving by those places anyway. It happens enough that I check those spots first (online).

But it’s pretty incredible how often Amazon is the same price or lower.

[Hawndoh 2,400]

I've used Amazon a lot, but lately there have been times where I've been bitten by the low quality of Chinese fakes. Then I've had to deal with mailing it back to them and waiting for a refund to process, and I've ended up buying the item in a real store for slightly more. 

 

[Dbeasy 15,229]

Question about shoes and clothing. Our family finds it almost impossible to shop for shoes and clothing online. The fit, the materials, etc. but the brick and mortar options are shrinking exponentially. What does everyone do these days for shoes and clothing?

[52-80 19,277]

8 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

Question about shoes and clothing. Our family finds it almost impossible to shop for shoes and clothing online. The fit, the materials, etc. but the brick and mortar options are shrinking exponentially. What does everyone do these days for shoes and clothing?

I buy apparel from the same vendors so I know my size with them.  You take the odd gamble with material but returns ain't a big deal.  Or order multiple and use free return-pickup.  Not a hassle.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,540]

18 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

Question about shoes and clothing. Our family finds it almost impossible to shop for shoes and clothing online. The fit, the materials, etc. but the brick and mortar options are shrinking exponentially. What does everyone do these days for shoes and clothing?

As mentioned there are a fair amount of fakes or suspected fakes for clothes and shoes on amazon.

theres also an entire industry now of people that go the brick and mortar stores and buy up the inventory of unsold items that are priced to immediately sell. Perhaps there is a flaw or mistake with them. Then they’re resold on amazon without mention of the problem.

i buy most clothes at local stores, usually larger dept or name brand stores.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Nice Guy Eddie

[CooterBrown 18,089]

Question about shoes and clothing. Our family finds it almost impossible to shop for shoes and clothing online. The fit, the materials, etc. but the brick and mortar options are shrinking exponentially. What does everyone do these days for shoes and clothing?

 

Amazon. Make sure the seller is the manufacturer to avoid knock offs. For example, I buy a pair of Brooks Ghost and Cascadia shoes twice a year. I always buy from amazon but the seller I choose is always Brooks. Same with jeans. I buy Levi’s 502 but the seller is always Levi’s. It’s weird the color selection Levi’s offers on amazon is about 5x the selection on their own website. You’d probably be good with anything that is part of Amazon Wardrobe. Those items probably have been curated through as best sellers and the knockoffs already eliminated.

 

Also avoid any brand name that’s a made up word in all capitals. 100% Chinese crap.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4,980]

It doesn't matter which seller you buy from. All products with the same SKU get tossed into the same bin, and they just randomly pull from that bin when you order. So any fakes get mixed in with the real products and it is a crap shoot which one you get.

[billfromlaketravis 11,602]

You can sign up for Prime, place an order with free shipping, and then immediately cancel. Amazon will still give you Prime for free for a month. 

[Cajun 11,764]

Until I can just click on closing down the cashiers who want to know my blood type, my next of kin, my dog's name, my favorite color, how I voted, what I ate for breakfast, if I want to donate to yada yada, on and on and on, I will continue to avoid box stores with all I can muster.

I will not reward that kind of behavior.

[Brew 3,049]

The next product I order from Amazon will be the first product I order. My wife uses it for some things and the whole thing just seems wasteful. She’ll order 5 items and get 4 different oversized Amazon boxes over the course of a couple of days. Then it’s inevitable that something will be a piece of junk knock off that gets sent back or thrown away at some point. I order some things online but it tends to be direct (or at least whoever’s name is on it) rather than through a 3rd party.

[Dbeasy 15,229]

 
Amazon. Make sure the seller is the manufacturer to avoid knock offs. For example, I buy a pair of Brooks Ghost and Cascadia shoes twice a year. I always buy from amazon but the seller I choose is always Brooks. Same with jeans. I buy Levi’s 502 but the seller is always Levi’s. It’s weird the color selection Levi’s offers on amazon is about 5x the selection on their own website. You’d probably be good with anything that is part of Amazon Wardrobe. Those items probably have been curated through as best sellers and the knockoffs already eliminated.
 
Also avoid any brand name that’s a made up word in all capitals. 100% Chinese crap.

BLSHT?

[gsoda3 3,285]

lots of corporate accounts (ISDs, municipal gvt agencies, etc) have Approved Vendor lists where vendors like best buy and target are approved but amazon isn't.  i wonder what revenue numbers look like for those accts.  no doubt the margin #s are significantly higher.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,540]

2 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

It doesn't matter which seller you buy from. All products with the same SKU get tossed into the same bin, and they just randomly pull from that bin when you order. So any fakes get mixed in with the real products and it is a crap shoot which one you get.

Amazon doesn't put 100 similar pairs of shoes in the same bin. I saw a story where a bin could have a one pair of shoes, one set of windshield wipers and a mobile phone case.  It makes the pickers job easier when the bin contains completely different items. It increases mistakes and time when the picker has to make decisions or search.

But I agree that the manufacturer's name under the product listing isn't telling you anything. And for the most part, I don't believe too many manufacturers sell directly on Amazon. They may sell it to Amazon, or perhaps it's a consignment, and then Amazon is listed as the seller. But much of amazon inventory is now owned by individual sellers.

On the positive side, I saw a video describing that a new seller on Amazon isn't allowed to sell branded clothing due to so many fakes. They have to prove themselves for a while with good reviews and low returns before Amazon will allow them to sell Nikes or whatever.

 

[Guest Lobo]

Simon properties bought Taubman Properties and their 26 malls for $3.6bn.  All cash, despite the messy legacy debt on Taubman's balance sheet.  Taubman brings 26 malls to the retail giant, Simon...including 2 in the coveted Detroit market and a couple of malls in Central China that are just a half-day's drive away for Wuhan residents. 

Taubman's typical product is a little higher end and more experiential than Simon's typical platform.  To this thread's point, they are relying on you to buy your staples online, but come for the unique experience of parking, sweating/freezing, being surrounded by people, paying slightly more than you would usually to make up for the capex on the buildout, get the flu, buy some overpriced lunch at Cheesecake Factory, and then sweat/freeze again on the way to your car.  And unlike the 80's/90's, you'll spend the entire time hoping you DON'T run into anyone you know.  I mean yes, an hour being waited on and measured at Nordstrom while watching the eye candy and maybe getting a bite at the cafe is nice once a year.  But they're also doubling-down on the Simon concept of co-working spaces in mall promenades.  Work-relax areas offered free, they're hoping you'll bring your laptop and do some work between shopping bursts; and obviously hit up the food court while you're there.  Maybe play tetanus with your kids in the abandoned Sears or soon-to-be abandoned Macy's.  

So yeah, Simon bought 26 malls.  For $3.6bn.  This week, for a premium on their share price.  This is happening right now.  

[Fudge Nuggets 19,276]

8 hours ago, Your Mom said:

Online as much as possible.  I buy a lot of random shit. A new jacket, a backpack for my kid, a random power tool I’ll use once, shoes, sunglasses case, pocket knife, new CamelBak bladder...I keep a running list on my phone of things i see that I want or think I need.  Amazon is at my front door twice a week on average and that will go up when I probably start using them for grocery shopping. As it is now Instacart is also at my front door about once a week.

I cherish my days off, I take as many of them as I can afford to and I don’t want to waste them running errands, grocery shopping, stopping by random stores, etc..  even if something was cheaper at the brick and mortar it would have to be a LOT cheaper to make me want to not order it online.  

I'm the complete opposite.  I never buy random shit except maybe once or twice a year so other than Christmas season Amazon is never at my house.

I also cherish my days off, but with kids in school it's not like I can get too far from the house from the time they leave until they get back.  Hell, I enjoy running errands as it's an opportunity to get out of the house.  

[Gene Parmesan 4,022]

How has best buy survived?  I for sure would have pegged them as soon to die years back.  TVs are about the only thing they sell that I think it makes sense for a showroom, but I'm not so sure that my next TV won't be bought online though.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,540]

2 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

How has best buy survived?  I for sure would have pegged them as soon to die years back.  TVs are about the only thing they sell that I think it makes sense for a showroom, but I'm not so sure that my next TV won't be bought online though.  

They probably make a killing from people that don't know better than buying electronics from them, and then having geek squad for installation and setup. And even if the geek squad doesn't make up a large amount of their revenue I imagine the profit is high with that service.

[Aqua Buddha 14,653]

21 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

They probably make a killing from people that don't know better than buying electronics from them, and then having geek squad for installation and setup. And even if the geek squad doesn't make up a large amount of their revenue I imagine the profit is high with that service.

 

25 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

How has best buy survived?  I for sure would have pegged them as soon to die years back.  TVs are about the only thing they sell that I think it makes sense for a showroom, but I'm not so sure that my next TV won't be bought online though.  

Excellent service.  They've gone after upper middle income Xer's and Boomers who will pay for people to come to their homes and set up their entertainment network.

[Js1 85,745]

5 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Question about shoes and clothing. Our family finds it almost impossible to shop for shoes and clothing online. The fit, the materials, etc. but the brick and mortar options are shrinking exponentially. What does everyone do these days for shoes and clothing?

Try Prime Wardrobe.  You get 7 days from the date you get the package to try everything on.  Seal the package back up with the things you don't like and drop it off with the label.  You can do 8 items per order - I do a lot of 2 pants/2 shirts type orders where its the same item, just 2 sizes, and return the one that doesn't fit right.  You could even get away with 3 different sizes of 1 item per order. 

['stache 21,900]

I like Best Buy's credit offers for appliances and TVs. I always price them out against online and Home Depot and they are always about the same prices, never more than a few bucks difference if anything.

[dingleberryswitzer 2,724]

I buy most of my non food, non clothing items from Amazon.  The reality is, I wouldn't mind paying a slight premium to see and touch things before I buy them, but what chaps me is when I go to a brick and mortar store looking for something and can't find it.  Walmarts are so freaking big it can be a pain to find things, assuming they have what I need.  (Went to buy a frisbee a couple months ago, they said it was a seasonal item.  Because no one plays frisbee in November except for dogs apparently.). The point is it's a waste of time if i strike out and I often don't want to take the chance.  There's also the feeling of defeat coming home empty handed.  

I also got frustrated when trying to buy applicances at Lowe's/Depot/Best buy.  Half that shit you see they don't even have in stock.  You have to wait for delivery, during a 4 hour window on a weekday.  

[luke duke 6,420]

How has best buy survived?  I for sure would have pegged them as soon to die years back.  TVs are about the only thing they sell that I think it makes sense for a showroom, but I'm not so sure that my next TV won't be bought online though.  

People like my 80 yr old father keep Best Buy in business.

[Apep 645]

Amazon is my go-to for pretty much all non-food items, but I'll double check the Walmart app if the Amazon price seems high or I want the item now. I also use the app to check local stock, see prices, and even navigate within the store.

[Iceman 2,795]

3 hours ago, Lobo said:

Taubman brings 26 malls to the retail giant, Simon...including 2 in the coveted Detroit market and a couple of malls in Central China that are just a half-day's drive away for Wuhan residents. 

 

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot????

[Guest Lobo]

28 minutes ago, Iceman said:

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot????

Ask Wang, he'll tell you...we just bought two malls in Detroit.....on the Good Side! 

[Brew 3,049]

Bought a TV at Best Buy last month. Drove up, talked to the salesman for a little while, paid, he helped load it, and off I went. I price shopped it before I went and it was the same or similar price at Costco and other walk in places, so why not go to Best Buy if it’s closer? 

[52-80 19,277]

1 minute ago, Brew said:

Bought a TV at Best Buy last month. Drove up, talked to the salesman for a little while, paid, he helped load it, and off I went. I price shopped it before I went and it was the same or similar price at Costco and other walk in places, so why not go to Best Buy if it’s closer? 

Because you have to go to Best Buy

[Gene Parmesan 4,022]

11 minutes ago, Brew said:

Bought a TV at Best Buy last month. Drove up, talked to the salesman for a little while, paid, he helped load it, and off I went. I price shopped it before I went and it was the same or similar price at Costco and other walk in places, so why not go to Best Buy if it’s closer? 

Nothing wrong with that.  There is an aesthetic aspect to TVs that I think lends itself to the showroom experience.  Best Buy takes up a lot of real estate and for the most part outside of TVs and appliances I don't know what else they sell that most people wouldn't just buy online, but they are still here so someone is buying from them.  

[Huckleberry 33,537]

I go to brick and mortar shops when possible because they employ people in my community.

[Mappable 37]

Retail stores large and small are going away whether you like it or not.

The Ebay commercial below is a perfect example of how perceptions in buyers have changed

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Mappable

[Deej 77,170]

I went to Best Buy last fall for something. There were a lot of olds buying computers.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Deej

[elfenix 34,385]

7 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Amazon doesn't put 100 similar pairs of shoes in the same bin.

it's not a real bin, it's a computerized bin with the locations of all 27 of SKU 55378008 scattered around 26 warehouses in 7 different states, 20 of which are legitimate and 7 of which are not. 

[Brew 3,049]

52 minutes ago, Deej said:

I went to Best Buy last fall for something. There were a lot of olds buying computers.

Forgot about that one, bought MacBook’s at Best Buy for both kids because they had the best pricing at the start of school and TN has a no sales tax period before school so going in made sense. 

[woohorn 1,131]

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot????

Iceman don't know it's cold in Detroit so Malls are totes adorbs?

I also got frustrated when trying to buy applicances at Lowe's/Depot/Best buy.  Half that shit you see they don't even have in stock.  You have to wait for delivery, during a 4 hour window on a weekday.  

I am going to miss Sears for appliances. Always seemed to have shit together in that one area at least.

it was the same or similar price at Costco and other walk in places, so why not go to Best Buy if it’s closer? 

Costco lengthens warranties on electronics, up to a point. Just sayin...

[Samson's Wig 3,195]

For those who don't know, you can haggle at Best Buy.  The right day and right television and you can talk them down quite a bit.

[Guest Lobo]

2 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

I go to brick and mortar shops when possible because they employ people in my community.

that's cute you think the people working at your local Best Buy live anywhere within 10 miles from you.  

[Your Mom 4,868]

We get these good-conduct type points at work and redeem them in gift cards.  I  usually select Best Buy and use them to buy things that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise bought for myself.  Just used a few the other day to upgrade the stereo in my old truck to wireless CarPlay and a GoPro8.  Probably could’ve found them a little cheaper somewhere else but hey, it was monopoly money.  

[Huckleberry 33,537]

2 hours ago, Lobo said:

that's cute you think the people working at your local Best Buy live anywhere within 10 miles from you.  

lulz

I literally know 4 or 5 of the employees there who went to high school at my kids' school and are working during college.

edit - okay, turns out it's only two at Best Buy. There are a couple more in the same shopping center, so the above was not completely accurate.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Huckleberry

[StruggleBus 3,922]

The only companies that will survive amazon’s grip on retail are hardware stores. When I need something from Home Depot I need it now, and I’m not willing to wait 1-2 days.

Everyone else is fucked though.

[Guest Lobo]

4 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

The only companies that will survive amazon’s grip on retail are hardware stores. When I need something from Home Depot I need it now, and I’m not willing to wait 1-2 days.

Everyone else is fucked though.

 Big box hardware won’t last because of weekend DIY’ers like you and me.  They’ll last because a crew of Mexican subs ain’t gonna wait to order $5000 in bulk at home.  They’re gonna roll By and pick it up in store at Dawn.  

[PilotsError 2,338]

Your Amazon package is handled, sorted and delivered by people in your community as well.

[Gene Parmesan 4,022]

15 hours ago, Mappable said:

Retail stores large and small are going away whether you like it or not.

The Ebay commercial below is a perfect example of how perceptions in buyers have changed

 

This add exemplifies the worst kind of shopper.  Anyone who is going to use the showroom of a brick and mortar to actually see/test the product and then buy online because it's cheaper is a pos.

[Guest Lobo]

You think that’s a piece of shit move?

[Mappable 37]

Stealing a commissioned sales person's time or a local business's employee's time is definitely a piece of shit move.

2 hours ago, Lobo said:

You think that’s a piece of shit move?