Are Brick and Mortar Stores Better than eTailers?

Chris Pirillo My Parents Were in a Car Accident What is the Future of Air Travel? What will Cars of Tomorrow be Like?Are Brick and Mortar Stores Better than eTailers?What was the First / Last Movie you saw in a Theater? Are Personal Home Pages and Blogs Dying? Could you Live Without Email or the Web? Is your Avatar a Gravatar? A USB Grommet Hub for your Home Office

chris@pirillo.com (Chris Pirillo)added an interesting post today on Are Brick and Mortar Stores Better than eTailers? Here’s a small reading Where do you do your shopping? Do you get in your car, drive to a store, and then physically walk around to make your purchases? Or are you

Woo Hoo! First for once! But If im buying something over £50 that I haven’t seen in real life, then I’d much rather go to a real store. But for things like songs and videos and stuff, I love eStores.

were’s the sponsor wheel?

I don’t think traditional shopping is on the slide especially in computing. Take a look at how well Apple are doing, compared to say Dell. Dell have started selling in traditional stores now. I am sure the majority of everyday users buy computers offline, the prices aren’t a lot higher, fraud is less likely and you can ask questions before purchase and try the product. Plus the postal system is less than impressive with them already “misplacing” one MacBook…

Brick and Mortar Stores I find are better than internet shopping because of one thing the e-stores cant do, You cant feel the quality of the product your buying from a e-store + it gets me off the pc for a while :) …ok that’s a bad thing but you get my idea.

na i just like going to the stores to actully handle a product before i buy it. other then that 90% shopping is done all online. peace. gregg

Brick and mortar stores are better than eTailers. It feels good to physically hunt down something you want and physically pick it up. eTailers are what will help in getting physical money out of our hands and more out of our control. The dollar is not worth what it used to be. Thats why things are costing more. If the financial crisis gets worse then one solution under discussion is the replacement of the US dollar by the Amero. A new currency to include Mexico and Canada and backed by gold.

I really don’t think our society as of yet could evolve in the way you’re talking about here: Shopping for groceries and stuff is a social interaction. As a person that works in a grocery store, I know that some of these bizarre questions will not be recognized by a computer at all! And the old people that tell you their life stories: They’re at the store for a good old fashioned talk, since they live at home alone and don’t have anyone to talk to. They tell us about their pets, their relatives, and then they go tell the cashiers the same thing! Sure, I freakin’ LOVE eBay, but even I enjoy some of the perks of physical stores.

damn u pirillo pluto is a planet

Chris,

Your planning for kids. Wow!
What are you and Ponzi gonna name him/her?

What are your favorite online stores other than sites like Ebay.

First off, I -love- the bears Chris, they’re great. BBWS is a great outfit. I have a monkey and a wolf that I built there personally. But anyway, on to topic. I think what your getting at Chris, is a sort of…. technologically enhanced regression. And what I mean is this. When I was younger… I used to visit with my mother’s family every summer, they lived in a town that is nowhere near as small now as it was back then, and I remember my grandmother being able to pick up the phone, and call her neighborhood market (which I think has been replaced by a walmart, but that isn’t my point) She would call the market, and speak with the owner..reading him a list. and then by the time we got there, he would have almost everything she requested boxed up and ready. She would hand him the money, they would stand at the counter, or in the doorway of his shop and talk for a few minute, enjoy each other’s company, and then we would be off. This is an experience which for most of us has died with the advent of the megamarket chain stores. Could you really imagine after all, taking 15 minutes out of your day, to just chat with the manager of your local walmart? I think though, with the aid of email and such things, we could get at least a little of that back, and to be honest… wouldn’t life be just a little better if we all had time to talk just a little more?

I’m definitely an online shopper first and brick-n-mortar second. Brick-n-mortar won’t ever die. There is a “social” and interactive component you just can’t get online.

I agree with some of the ideas suggested to make brick-n-mortar a better experience especially the remote inventory check. When I know what I’m looking for, I often call ahead to verify they have what I want. Nothing is more frustrating than driving to a store only to find they don’t have what you want.

One other suggestion for the list. Brick-n-mortar stores could vastly improve the shopping experience when they leverage their own online store at their brick-n-mortar counterpart. Quick example: Barnes and Noble does this very well. They even offer free shipping if you come into a store for a book they should have but don’t. They’ll find it at their online store and offer to send it to your house for free. Toys-r-Us, on the other hand, is a perfect example of a store that is totally out of touch with technology. No connection with their online counterpart and no inventory check capability whatsoever.

But it’s so much better to go in a shop look the product check the box. But this reservation look if it is on stock in the shop is already made by bigger IT shops. The payment with mobile devices would be very dangerous it would gave you a to big risk of being hacked, it would be too dangerous when you lose your mobile…
Cool bears Chris

These are all things that sound great and all… but I can’t imagine the ramifications it’d have on society. By that I mean… the amount of people who’d lose their jobs to newer technologies. Although, you need new stuff in to sift old stuff out. But what kind of new technologies could these people job train for after computers took over their place in grocery stores?

I think there’s a lot of “what ifs” still taking place… but I’m sure companies who want to save a buck or two are trying to find these new methods of shopping. Although, the simple use of self-checkout hasn’t been 100% yet, so it’d take that much more effort to find a good system that’d work for ALL customers…. not just the younger generations who grew up in the computer era.

I don’t know… what do you think?

Kind Regards,
-Shaina

For me, I think that online shopping is the future. I’d much rather order “online” and not have to stand “in line”.
Some say that the social interaction would be gone, but I say the social interaction time with people you want to be with will increase. The reason being you have more time with them instead of driving to a “real” store. And what about the gas you will save by shopping online.

What if you are buying something that you want to hold, to test out or just to see live and in person before spending the money to have it shipped to you? I would never buy clothing online, unless I had an article from the exact same manufacturer already. And what about shipping costs? If I just was one of something, why would extra for it to have it mailed to me?

With the cost of transportation today as well with the massive amount of paper and cost of advertising I would support any business that will compete with ANY competitor and have the conscience to advertise digitally. I’d rather take a bus, bike, or walk to a local retailer than pay the cost of shipping. You brought up a good point here and I can definitely see a change in “consumer habits” and “corporate methods” within the next few years. Fantastic topic of discussion. Paz

There would be a lot more identity theft.

Just a bit of a side note: Here in Louisville, we can actually have our groceries ordered from the net, and then they are delievered to our house. I use this service a LOT… but now that gas prices are going up, so is my grocery bills. -(

Chris,

I hate shopping online. It is just not the same. I am a very tactile person, so it is very hard for me to look at something and just buy it. Would you buy furniture online that you have never actually seen in real life before? I wouldn’t.

My dad manages a bicycle shop. He tells me what the Internet has done for his business. He says that there are these huge sites on the net who can sell the same bikes his shop carries for WAY less. So what happens is people come in, look at the bike, get fitted to the bike, and then buy it online from that site. To me that is just unfair. That customer just wasted my father’s time.

Also, brick and mortar stores will never die. There is always going to be a social aspect of them that the Internet (not even virtual reality) can bring.

Example: for a vacation do we go to a building and sit in a room with no windows with a computer and IM people? No. Human beings are social creatures. We need social interaction, and unfortunately my generation (I am 15 BTW) is actually afraid of it.

Lastly, to demonstrate how this century’s advances in communication are not that great I have to tell this true story. I knew two people who were life long best friends. When they grew up they both lived in the same city, roughly two blocks away from each other. They would talk over the phone and IM constantly all day. So one day I asked one of them when the last time he had actually seen his best friend he replied, “Not in 2 months”. I was shocked. These two are best friends who live only two blocks away from each other, and they had not seen either one in two months.

That is the reality of our communication system though. We have to be constantly monitoring our selves. Sure the Internet is a great place to find great deals, but we also have to remember that we need to have social interaction and support our local economy.

Whenever I want to buy something, I have to make a choice.

1. I go with my Mom on her shopping trip, get what I need, then stand around in the stores for HOURS until finally I want to rip my feet off.
2. Order online, get tracking number, wait. And wait. And wait. And–Hey! It’s halfway here!–wait, until finally I get it.

I’m still really tied between the two options whenever I need to buy something. Mostly I buy online, but I am unfortunately impatient and the anticipation gets to me.

They seriously need air-drop shipping.
Oh, just thought of this, but instead of processing their orders using humans (because that’s how they do that, which is why they only process on business days), why can’t they write scripts to process the orders? Then, they can use an assembly line to package and ship the orders. Completely automated!

But yeah, those are my thoughts.

I would always go for online retailers for electronics and other major buys that I do because I get what I want with them a lot cheaper. Scouting for good deals is no doubt very convenient. Imagine doing this in brick n mortar stores. Having to hop from one store to another is absolutely tiring. Not to mention the cost of gas that you will consume driving around.

Whenever i can i try to always go to a actual retail store. I find that i things usually cost the same and the advantage of a B&M is that u get ur product right away.

As things are right now with instant software/music downloads and next-day shipping (rather than paying for gas), Brick & Mortar shops are going to need to get creative. The only reason I use conventional retailers over online retailers is for high-ticket items that have too much shipping costs involved or if I want to get hands-on with some gadget (even then I will usually buy it online after playing with it in store.)

Those teddy bears look cool!

I prefer to physically drive to a store and purchase the item in person. This is mostly because I want to ask the associates questions and receive the product right away. However, it looks like the physical store are being phased out due to it being cheaper to just sell everything online.

Of course, if I am unable to find the product I want at a physical store, I do resort to purchasing it online. However, I only purchase online from “The Big Guys”, such as Best Buy and Apple. However, if there is an in-store pick up option, instead of having it shipped to me, I will definitely choose the in-store pick up option.

I prefer to shop in person, cause I can’t trust the internet enough with my information.

I was watching a show on Tech TV about four or 5 years ago, they were talking about the future of stores on how they have developed a microchip from vegetable matter. They said they could chip every item in the store eliminating the barcode for about 1 penny each. All you would have to do is bag your groceries while you are shopping and just walk through a scanner and slide your card eliminating the checkout lines. The scanner would scan all of the items simultaneously. That is a real fast check out. And the chip could also tell you when your milk or your bread is bad by testing the acidity of the item.

I feel that, stores when selling new things, the internet defiantly beats it there. But for used, though the internet has a lot more to choose from, when you go to a used shop that is “real” you can easily go through the entire product and make sure it is reliable, safe, and is not trying to just get you to buy it. Though I do feel the internet is defiantly more reliable.

I Like the fact that i can comparison/bargain hunt online. I understand people fears about shopping online, but the reality of it, is that when you shop in a brick & mortar store if you’re not using cash & you’re using your credit card you still open up yourself to risk. That said i try to go with established companies, i’m not going to buy from an etailer just b/c they have the best price out there. Also as much as it may sound bad…the human interaction factor, can have its downsides, rude/unhelpful/incompetent store clerks etc, that would just end up putting my day in a funk after having to deal with them, vs basically doing it yourself, cutting out the middle person & the hassle.

I agree that for some things you want to physically hold it in your hand try it out etc etc, but with blogs doing video reviews and unboxings and more opportunities to get others opinion about a product before you buy it, its becoming less of an issue.

I find myself wishing i could do more of my business/purchasing decisions online.

NO, sorry, but nothing will ever beat that feeling of walking into an electronics store and just putting your hands all over the shiny flashing noisy big gadgets that you’d otherwise never even consider buying.

I go to online stores for basic “seen one seen em all” things, such as computer hardware and digital music.

I like the idea of having things more accessible, but please keep in mind how these ideas can be manipulated not only by customers, but by other retailers…

bestbuy and i think staples does that where you could search and see if its online, and you can click for pickup so…

Internet shopping is far more secure than going to a retail store…

There is indeed a social interaction that I believe is necessary for us… I think we are becoming more desensitized toward each other because of a lack of interaction, but that’s another topic. As for my shopping, it depends on what I’m buying as to whether I’ll buy online or in store. Most of my computer components I could buy online, but I am very picky about the vendor. Mice and keyboards, I prefer to try them at the store before buying so I can feel them. I can actually take care of most of my computer needs at a local computer store so buying online for me is not always the best option, especially considering the prices are always very competitive. I do like to check the stock of merchandise online before I go to the store to make sure I’m not wasting my time. My wife and I often order pizzas online… this is a handy thing. Mostly I research items I desire online and then check the inventory of my local stores, then I go to the store and buy… I enjoy the social interaction.

yeh you can go beat them up or at the very least shout at them in person :) then youll get your replacement.

I am another one who likes to get his hands on what he is looking to buy.

I do kind of a hybrid shopping thing where I go find what I want at a local store and then compare prices online to pick the best source for purchase.

I find that Fry’s has prices just as good as anywhere online.

Being able to email your shopping list and have it ready when you get there is pretty awesome. Its kind of already in effect with pick up at the store things like what best buy has. However, that really would work for things like clothes shopping due to the complexity of it. They could easily implement the remote pay feature cuz they kinda already have that already too. :)

I definitely prefer shopping online as opposed to going to the store because it saves me the trouble of getting into my car and driving over there, sometimes, if a store has a big sale or something like that, I will go and get it at the store, but as a whole, i prefer shopping online

Well, there are many aspects of shopping in real life, you can see and test the products before you buy it but, sometimes i buy online it’s quick and easy and you will know if the product is in. here there are supermarkets where you can borrow a handheld scanner and you scan your own products then go to a separate cash register where you transfer what you bought, then you swipe your card and done.
and of course you can order food and they will bring you your food to your doorstep but that is really bad because people exercise less and less, in this modern community, we have many things that aid us, cars that brings us wherever and whenever we want , we almost don’t use the stair anymore instead we use the escalators, we eat more, people bringing us stuff to our door, no wonder we become fat, that can’t be so healthy, if this keep evolving like this then the human race will eliminate our selfs.

For electronics I usually shop online, for everything else I go to stores. I shop in stores so i can either get the item faster or so I know I won’t have to deal with returns.

Well i missed that conversation in Chat but the guys … and girls came up with some great ideas. So many people have mobile devices these days it would be great to use them when you go shopping to make shopping a easier task. That email idea is really cool. Just email the store about what you want and have it ready by the time your there.

I love using amazon and the web to buy all my needs, the only time I ever get out of the car is to buy groceries and visit family. Its great how the internet is making us more lazy..I’m not complaining! I think that instant price matching is great since I have to use other websites for that.

Thanks for the post Chris!

some of the thing you said already exist, for example the thing about the cell phone in Finland (where i used to live some of the coke machines have a number on them that you call and it pays for your drink using your phone bill. Also on gamestop.com and a lot of other sites you can check the in store availability of stores in a certain distance of you.

You can already order from the Internet for Harris Teeters (it’s a big grocery store).

Bloom also has these special scanners that allow you to scan the items as you shop, and they also have this self check-out system.

I would say they are both good if you need something now then go to the store and get it but if you can wait and do some shopping around use an etailor.

I mostly prefer to shop online purely because of the ease of use. Though when shopping for clothing items I will make those dreaded trips to brick and mortar stores because I prefer to try on my clothes inorder to make sure that they fit. One thing I’m not too fond when it comes to online shopping is the shipping costs. Sometimes these costs can be astrinomical and put me off buying the products I would like to. When these situations occur it is somtimes cheaper to get out of the house and visit a store personally. Overall, I love shopping online because it is so convienent and can be done in a matter of minutes if you know what you’re doing. The internet is a wonderful place.

I do the majority of my electronics shopping on the Internet. I do some research at B&M stores because it allows me to actually experience the devices menus, features, connections, and other sort of things. I find that local stores will lower their price if you bring proof of the on-line price but not necessarily true at Best Buy or Circuit City.

In January, I bought a Samsung HDTV from Amazon and a month ago I bought an Onkyo home theater system from Crutchfield. Shopping on-line is great and most e-tailers that ship large electronics don’t charge S/H.

I prefer to shop in person, cause I can’t trust the internet enough with my information.Nothing will ever beat that feeling of walking into an electronics store and just putting your hands all over the shiny flashing noisy big gadgets that you’d otherwise never even consider buying.

I don’t know if they are better than each other but they are different when i buy games i really like to see the game and read the box many times you cannot do this online.

I much prefer to buy something in person. Some things just have to be bought in person. For example, buying a guitar involves a lot of decision making, and the process requires a lot of trying out different instruments. You just can’t do that online. Of course you could just go to a music store and try out a bunch until you find one you like and then order it online, but you might as well just buy it at the store and take it home right away! As for electronics however, I don’t have a problem buying those online, especially seeing how much cheaper it is. I recently built a new computer for around $300. If I would have bought that in a local store, firstly i would have had to search all around the city for a store that sells actual pc components rather than somewhere like best buy who only sells major things like ram and hard drives, and even if i did find all the same parts, they would have easily been $50-100 more. (no joke i actually compared prices!)

Brick and Mortar cannot match etailer pricing, ever.

Fax machines are for dinosaurs.

Us nerds need things. We need them when we need it! We have pwn-ing to do! Lol. I mean, paypal. At a store. Wouldn’t it be awesome. NO LINES ever. I also do most of my shopping off the internet. Though those some times, I must take the dreaded walk down to the grocery store. Ohhh. That would just be in one word. “133t” XD

~mangospork

The two things I like about Brick and Mortar that you don’t get online would be the instant gratification (no waiting for shipping) and, for the while, gas costs less than shipping.

I actually use both E-tailers and regular stores to do my shopping. I’m the kind of person who likes to physically see what they’re getting before they buy it. So I either do one of two things:

I research the product online, find out all that I can about it, and then try it out at the store. If the prices are competitive with online pricing, I’ll usually buy the product based off of my online research.

Then sometimes, when I’m actually shopping in the store, I’ll see something that I want and purchase the product online if the prices are better.

Oh, and Paypal at the store would be AWESOME! :)

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No Way!

I cannot buy stuff except for electronics or accessories online!

I mean I still need to feel the product, hold it, use it, get to know it before I invest my hard-earned money into it! Although eTailers are supposed to be the future in retail, I can never imagine the old style of shopping going away anytime soon!!

Personally, I prefer and even like walking around a store looking for whatever I need to buy. I like seeing random people or even acquaintances. I like seeing things that I never thought I needed until I went past it and remembered I was all out of it at home. I like oogling at the jewelry even though I know I won’t buy it. It’s a pastime, kinda like baseball.

Well i haven’t really done shopping via online as i have good enough digital products shop near by and i like to buy cloths so i can see how they fit. But i have ordered couple of things tough. I know it’s easier but i think it’s too easy, some hard work or effort should be done for, that’s what i think.

I would say they are equally necessary. There are just some times when I can not wait for the product and buying it in person is either necessary or more gratifying.

I prefer brick and mortar stores. Instant gratification. I like to go and have what I want right then and there. I get really impatient with online shopping and waiting for shipping. I end up paying more just to have it shipped to me sooner. ;p So seriously.. I definitely prefer to just get in the car and go shop for it in 3D.

Indeed the Internet is the world’s largest shopping mall.The main problem of it is that I can just see a product.I can not really test it or touch it.This is why most of people prefer clasical way of shopping instead of internet shopping.If there will be a possibility to test or even touch the product you want to buy we all are going to buy everything through Internet

Each has a purpose, need something quick? go to the local best buy, need something specialized? head to the internet, thats the great thing about the internet find whatever you need, the long tail is great

Most of my tech shopping is done online. However, all of my clothes shopping is done at the store. It is fustrating to get something that doesn’t fit and you have to drive all the way back to return it. Another thing these stores should do to compete is to offer things only in the store. A lot of same things can be found online and that hurts.

There’s just something I like about walking into a store and physically purchasing an item. You pick it up off the shelf, hand the cashier the money, and get the item instantly. Sure, an online store is a good place to shop, but you just can’t beat the feeling of walking out of Fry’s Electronics, graphics card in hand.

I don’t buy much online, but like others have said I really do like to see what I am buying before I hand over any money. I tend to only buy things that for me are quite expensive. I save up for ages then buy what I need. Being a musician and a marksman, I’m involved in costly purchases. And seeing the integrity of quality of a product before buying it is very essential. I guess I could trust the opinion of the seller, but I’d still have niggles! Do other people trust big items in the hands of the seller?

the main thing i buy anymore is musical equipment. its nice to be able to go in and feel the instrument and hear the tones you can get. If our local music shop went under, i’d go crazy, because unless i’ve played it before, i never by online. I’ve used musiciansfriend as a threat at the music store, and got much better prices. Used GT1200 Crate halfstack for 300 :P

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