Sep 25th, 2008
Do Web Sites for Brick and Mortar Stores Make Sense?
I think the answer is a yes with caveats.
It has always struck me as interesting that the prices on the brick and mortar and Web stores are not the same. In fact, the Web prices are not even always lower, as might be suspected. I recently purchased a wireless adapter at Best Buy which was listed for $10 less in store than online! On the other hand, I’ve often ordered online for pickup at discounted prices and/or using Discover Card’s ShopDiscover program which increases–sometimes to as much as 5%–the reward received for purchasing with that brand of card.
It can also be helpful if the Web site allows in store pickup and to check the stock (accurately!) of an item. CompUSA (back when they actually existed as a brick and mortar store) was notorious for having outdated inventory information; many times the Web site would say that the item was in stock at a store, but it really wasn’t. Best Buy and Circuit City both have pretty decent store pickup options (although Circuit City has been out of stock at least once on an item I purchased and never called me to tell me it was back in stock–I had to deal with their voicejail–not a typo–system to figure it out); Circuit City gives a reward card if they can’t fulfill the order in a really short amount of time too! CircuitCity.com also allowed me to avoid going there to try to purchase an item this weekend; their Web site verified for me that it was out of stock.
Some Web sites, however, offer neither in store pickup nor the ability to check if an item is in stock. Those sites are much less useful; at least if they offer a store locator and phone numbers and addresses of local stores, they are of some use.
I’ve found BestBuy.com and CircuitCity.com to be pretty useful when dealing with their brick and mortar stores; OfficeDepot.com, OfficeMax.com, and Costco.com a bit less so (although Costco.com has one big advantage over Costco the brick and mortar store–you’re not bound to only using American Express!). Stores that are a bit more general, like Longs.com and WalMart.com, have been much less useful for me.
I conclude that some Web sites for brick and mortar stores work really well, and some work really poorly–which ones do which varies considerably. Take a look carefully when you want to try to use these Web sites to your advantage.
Barnes & Noble! You can now check availability, and reserve your book online at bn.com for pick-up in the store! They e-mail you back within an hour to confirm or deny whether it is actually there for you to pick up!
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They are also great for when you don’t have that particular store in your area. For instance, I’d have to drive over an hour to find an Illuminations store. They always have the best halloween stuff.