We've seen lots of statistics regarding the drop in retail sales during the Great Recession. On-line sales also took a hit but pretty small really and look at the recovery - bigger and better than ever. Why?
A lot of reasons but my recent trip to Fry's Electronics yesterday really hit home. Our stereo receiver seems to have croaked with just one stereo channel now working. A little complicated because we have speakers in two different rooms but a real bummer just being able to listen to only one speaker in each room. After 20 plus years with our current Denon receiver, the time has come to face the abuse of our past. For today try the Black Keys El Camino album turned up to top decibles if you want to test your system and "rock out" a bit - just as a test of course, but I guarantee you won't be able to sit down.
So, in search of a solution, we first stopped at Costco. Limited selection, low price but figure it out ourselves. Then on to Fry's in Renton to talk to a real person at a brick and mortar retailer. And no more Best Buy for me. Bad experiences. Other than learning that I am pretty dumb regarding electronics I heard little of value at Fry's other than I needed to do my own research. So why pay the overhead cost for brick and mortar retail if you can't get something of value more than you can get on line? Guess where we won't be investing any of our resources in the near future. On line it is for us now.
One more observation - just think how much easier it is for seniors and others not so mobile to order online compared to having to manage the logistics to get to and from a mall. By comparison, a computer can be a lot easier way to navigate for our increasingly tech savy shoppers and UPS/FedEX deliver to our door step.
And don't forget, if you buy on-line, you directly benefit our city's sales tax revenue. A rapidly changing world indeed that we live in today.