I’ve just seen another bash at Amazon and their new price check app that they’re promoting, in all honesty I don’t really know a great deal about the app but what frustrates me is the non-consumer focus from the complaints that I’ve seen so far, they’re very much borne from a protectionist stance and disregard the consumer completely. In-store shopping has always frustrated me, so here’s two reasons why I prefer to shop online.
A Lack Of Expertise
In most cases the salesperson you’re dealing with in-store has a tremendous expertise deficiency when compared to ‘The Internet’, even the most hardened experts would struggle against the wealth of technical and personal opinion available online so it’s unlikely to be a problem that’s solved any time soon.
As a fairly techy person and a gadget freak this rears its head on a regular basis when visiting my local Comet, PC World / Currys and the such because no matter how much training is done, the weekends and evenings salesperson can’t add anything substantial – so if I have a question, I’m forced to refer to the iPhone and look online. I’ve also encountered the same in my local Apple store (which you would expect to be more clued up than most) when I first moved to a Mac at the beginning of the year no-one had any clue on a decent way to store passwords – a few Google clicks later that evening and I discovered several options and made my decision from there.
To be fair those two instances are from an area of my personal expertise – digital cameras is a different matter however and last year I found myself confronted by a salesperson, completely out of their depth, but still trying to talk to me about digital cameras and the merits of SLR’s as if they knew what they were talking about. Still quite a gadgety product I could tell I wasn’t getting sound advice, but what happens to the unsuspecting consumer who thinks what they’re being told is gospel?
In short, most of the time in store staff are not well versed in the products they’re tending to, so they’re flat out not capable of performing that sales / informative role. As a nowt but a boy I saw it happen regularly in my first sales job, salespeople with no experience of the product providing poor / incorrect advice but ultimately making the sale.
No I’m Sorry We Can’t Open The Box
If the expertise gap is a problem that is unlikely to be solved, then this one is frankly inexcusable and drives me up the wall every time I’m presented with it.
We can discuss the competitive advantages online shops have all day long, but one thing they will never manage to replicate is the competitive advantage a store has in actually having the product on site so you can touch and feel it before making a purchasing decision. Far too many bricks and mortar stores completely forgo this advantage and simply say:
Oh we can’t open the box because we can’t sell it as new then.
This alone is enough reason for me to buy online, because if I can’t even see the product then why bother going in-store? I’ll just go online, get a better price, get better technical and personal advice AND see more of the product via of lots and lots of photographs, videos and 360 degree views.
I cannot suffer this excuse, it makes my bones itch and if high street stores want to thrive, then more of them need to be interactive with their products and make the most of the competitive advantages they do have.
Christmas Shopping (And Basic Business Studies)
I’d like to close this by saying very few of our Christmas presents this year have actually been bought online, although many have been researched online. When our high street shopping experience goes to plan we can browse a large array of products, that we can touch and interact with freely. We have gentle sales support on hand for basic queries and an honest answer if they can’t be sure. But often the most important aspect of all, the product is in stock and we can take it away with us – we don’t need to wait in for deliveries or run the risk of the wrong products being sent.
It’s basic business studies that teenagers learn – classic marketing mix, product placement is key – not just on the shelf but on the high street in general. If I can have my new toy now, rather than wait a week for delivery then I’ll pay more for that advantage – how much more? I’m not sure – depends what the toy is 
