Maybe not WalMart, but this is exactly what Best Buy has become for me. I love going into Best Buy, just to be surrounded by all the high tech goodness, but I never buy anything there. I go to check stuff out, then go home and jump online and order the same thing for 20% or more less from Amazon or Newegg.
back
1 comments
I've got to say: This is the rational, homo economicus way that textbooks say buyers should behave and, to me, it's just terrible! You may find it pedantic, but I think that if BB provides a utility for you you should reward them. The same thing is happened to large bookstores, music stores, etc., people checked out the wares and then bought it online.
Part of me agrees with what you're saying, and in some cases, I do acknowledge this and try to give business to those that truly provide a valuable service to me.
However, in the case of BB, I'm less inclined to reward them, as I feel they -- in a lot of cases -- take advantage of uneducated customers, and gouge them with certain lines of products. Cables (Monster cables are the worst) being a prime example of this, where they sell cables at a cost sometimes 25-50 times that you can get almost anywhere online (selling a $3 cable for $100).
I don't want this to turn into a discussion about specific stores or products, just using that as an example of why some retailers have lost the respect of some of the more educated consumers. Business is one thing, but taking advantage of the uneducated is another.
But again, I do agree with you about the general notion of giving business to those that provide a valuable service to you.
I recently went into a retail store to purchase a laptop - I had to buy one and didn't give myself enough time for purchasing online.
I asked the assistant which ones had a SSD drive - she told me they all did. 'All of them?' I asked. 'Oh yes, she said'.
I smiled and walked out. I'm sure she thought I meant 'hard drive' and used a funny word for it, but if you're selling laptops and don't know what SSD means - well, what's the point of shopping there?
Similar story I can't help share.
I went into Home Depot and asked for a piece of two by four to be cut to 38 7/8" length. The guy doing the cutting had to come and ask me what exactly 7/8ths of an inch looked like on a tape measure. It's the really small tick marks, right? I told him the really small ones are 16ths, and pointed to where the tape needed to go for 38 7/8". You can bet I measured that piece of wood after he'd cut it.
I don't mind using Best Buy as a show room when they seem to have plenty of customers unwilling to do a simple google comparison shop before they leave for the store.
As long as wireless routers and HDMI cables continue to be foreign concepts to most consumers, brick and mortars like Best Buy will stick around.
This seems like a rationalization for me. I too dislike BB's tactics, but instead of using them as a free showroom, I just avoid them. I will give nothing to them, but neither will I take anything from them.
I had a very pleasant experience the two times I went to best buy: once to get a phone plan (the guy at the counter saved us good money by suggesting a nice text plan I hadn't come across during my research).
The next time I bought three big appliances: knowledgeable saleslady who smartly realized that I'd done my homework. Didn't waste my time; didn't try to upsell, gave honest opinions on diffs between brands.
I'd go there again. And oh, I order lots of stuff from Amazon Prime too.
Yeah, I stopped shopping at Best Buy for this reason. All they sell for accessories now is their two in-house brands and Monster, all of which are stupidly marked up.
It's not terrible. If Best Buy wants compensation for a service they provide, they should charge for it. It's that simple.
Don't fool yourself into believing that Best Buy deserves success because they are useful. You don't owe Best Buy anything. Best Buy does not care about you. Best Buy is not your friend. Best Buy is a business and should be treated as such.
I understand and you are of course right. Here's the question, though: what if everyone does what I do, i.e. look at the store and then buy from Amazon, etc? Isn't this the tragedy of the commons? Then BB will close (like Borders) or would have to radically adapt (like B&N, who currently carry half books half toys in most stores).
Luckily for all of us who enjoy perusing BB, they are (currently at least) avoiding both fates since (i) they are pretty much the monopoly in electronics stores and (ii) there are a lot of customers lazy or clueless enough to just buy their stuff there rather than online.
Then either BB will start charging an entrance fee, or they will start charging the manufacturers display fees. At that point they can reduce their prices to about that of online shopping (since you have the value added of being able to purchase the product immediately, but your time spent driving plus gas plus maintenance costs more than shipping).
I don't think he's saying they deserve success. Rather, that if you want them to still exist in the future, you should buy from that.
You could say this about any unprofitable business. It's the business's job to offer transactions to each individual customer that aggregate to the positive for the business. It's not my job to provide corporate welfare to ailing Best Buy.
You could use the same logic to criticize a listener for not buying a bad album from their favorite band.
Heck, even I waited until the price drop on Amazon MP3 to buy The Roots' new album today. (it was $8 last night)
We don't actually disagree. I'm just pointing out the consequences. There are instances where I buy things based on those consequences as opposed to what was best for me.