Consumer Law

Why brick-and-mortar stores are dying

By Sam Glover

Oh, there are a lot of complicated economic models to explain why consumers are turning to the internet in ever-increasing numbers to do their shopping, but it seems to me the reason may have more to do with practices like Best Buy’s insistence on collecting phone numbers just so they can send out a pile of junk mail. And let’s face it, the employees at your local big box store are not particularly helpful, and you don’t really need those Monster cables, anyway. So you might as well just order from Newegg.com, which is cheaper, and where you can opt out of junk mail.

Of course, this is also a reason to look for independent retailers where the employees actually are helpful and the store will not barrage you with useless paper for kindling. For example, our local hardware store is more expensive than Home Depot, but the employees have saved us hundreds of dollars over the years by steering us to the right product instead of the product we thought we needed. We cannot afford not to shop there.

So I do not feel bad when I see people price-shopping in Circuit City or Wal-Mart only to order the same thing online. But I do feel bad when they go to local outdoor store Midwest Mountaineering just to try on hiking packs before ordering the one they want from a discount e-tailer. Because chances are they spent an hour or two finding the perfect pack and getting a custom fit with Hurricane Bob. Try that with your Sierra Trading Post catalog.

Shape your buying habits so that you are not just buying a product, but helping to shape the marketplace you want to shop in.

Full post as published by Caveat Emptor on January 15, 2008 (boomark / email).