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Lots More People Shop Offline, Buy Online
from the maybe-I'm-not-so-crazy dept
Last year, people ripped me to shreds for mentioning there were times that I would window shop in a store, but eventually buy online. Well, if that's as evil as people made it out to be, it appears I'm in some good company. A new study says that nearly 70% of people now admit to doing some offline browsing, before purchasing online. The thing is, to me, it's no different than comparison shopping offline. If I'm looking to buy something, I may visit a few stores offline before finding a reasonable deal. Sometimes, a store will immediately offer a good enough deal, or a level of convenience or additional value that it's worth buying right away -- and sometimes not. Sites online are just one more place to comparison shop. At the same time, the reverse is true as well in some cases. There are plenty of times I've researched products online before buying locally at a store. Either way, it's clear that most people now have no qualms looking for the deal that makes the most sense for them, whether it's on or offline -- and both sides need to learn to deal with that.
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Shop offline, buy online
I've recently become one of these. A perfect example is vendor Harbor Freight, which offers tools (mainly, and mainly Chinese ones) at low prices compared to most others. However, the quality of these spans an incredible range, and price is no indicator even within this one vendor. Some tools made by a particular Chinese outfit and rebranded by several vendors, are among the best made at any price, they simply skip unnecessary steps in manufacture to get the prices down. Others are simply junk through and through. The only way to tell is to go to the store and touch them, examine them for play where they should be tight, and so forth. However, the store doesn't keep everything in stock either, and online one gets free shipping -- once you decide it's worth it.
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Buying Online
You are not evil because you buy online. The companies that offer clearly better pricing on a product on the internet, and hamstring their retail reps with higher in store pricing are the ones who have it wrong. The consumer is not at fault at all, unless in some fashion they exploit the knowledge of sales rep without any intention of ever buying from them.
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