When I suggested this was going to happen a few years ago people laughed.
As much as I detest Jeff Bezos...he built a better mousetrap.
The brick an mortar store sales people don’t have the ability to negotiate prices.
I can negotiate with Amazon. I look at an item, and a few days later it’s a few bucks less, and maybe a week or so later it’s a few more less, until it reaches a point where I am willing to buy.
I go into a a Sears, or Lowes, Home Depot etc, and the retail price today is posted. Either pay it or don’t. IF the price is too high they never investigate what it’s going to take to close the deal. That is the model they are missing.
Most places in the world, prices on virtually everything are negotiable.
And considering how frustrated many on this site are about shopping malls, and the bad clientele some malls have nowadays, and the whole decline of the shopping experience in malls, online shopping will only continue to grow.
When the Border’s book store near my office was about to close, they were selling their books at 30 to 40% discount.
I quickly went to their technical books section to see if I could buy computer books that I wanted at a huge discount.
I took note of the price and then went back to the internet to look at the prices of the same at Amazon.
Guess what? It was till cheaper at Amazon even when Border’s was discounting them for sale while closing.
Best Buy will match Amazon.com prices right in the store. They will even look it up for you, saving the cost of shipping and the wait for delivery.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/clp/price-match-guarantee/pcmcat290300050002.c?id=pcmcat290300050002
Remember that every time you buy at Amazon or use Facebook, you are funding the liberal left wing agenda that the owners of these companies use against you.
Same here but I've been saying it since the late 1990s. I started buying books and compact discs from Amazon practically since they were founded around 1994-1995. Now I get pretty much everything from them, even ridiculously small purchases. For example I needed a new set of screws and washers to repair an appliance and while I was at it, I purchased a dog lease and a container of motor oil for my lawn mower. It's so much easier than going to a big-box PetSmart or Home Depot and hassle with the traffic, finding a parking space and waiting in line, etc.
The retail experience is such a hassle. Minimum wage employees who really don't know what they are doing most of the time. Finding the item you need out of stock. Having the cashier spend ten minutes on each transaction.
I went to Kohl's not too long ago because I spilled something on my tie and had to get another one for a client meeting later that day. What a horrible experience. I grabbed a tie and then had to wait in line for 10 minutes because only two of ten registers were open. When I got to the front, I had to endure the spiel about how I would save 10 per cent on my purchase if I applied for one of their credit cards and then was practically scolded for "not wanting to save money" by applying for one. I don't want a Kohl's credit card! I just want to grab my tie and go. But it wasn't that easy. The cashier was typing and typing and typing on the POS terminal and when all was said and done, I ended up getting about two feet of receipt tape handed to me. Then when I tried to leave, the security alarm went off and I had to wait for somebody to come over and validate that I just paid for what I had bought.
That's just one example of the retail experience today.