As someone who has worked both sides of the street in brick and mortar mom-and-pop retail and on the internet, I sympathize with her. But this kind of whining really grates.
No matter where you are selling, you have to stress the value for the customer. If you are brick and mortar, then in the internet age you're selling your personal service and you're selling instant gratification. A person who has a sudden impulse for a silly plate or handbag can satisfy it instantly at your shop. That's what you sell. If, on the contrary, you beg your customers to buy from you out of pity, you're going to lose them all.
There ya go. Tell the customer that if she buys from your shop, she can have the plates TODAY, and no shipping charges!!!
Besides, the shopowner only needs to feed her kids supper, they're getting 2 taxpayer funded meals at school every day. Time to sell the Wii on eBay, kids, so Mommy can buy mac & cheese.
If her shop is next door to a tony restaurant with valet parking, she is probably paying a significant lease rate. Selling off the nternet may well be the way for her to go.
Ironically, I would think the rising cost of fuel is going to make internet shopping more expensive in the long run. At some point it’s cheaper for a trucking company to deliver 100 items to a retail store than for FedEx or UPS to deliver those 100 items directly to customers’ front doors.