How the web changed the way we shop: a keyboard retail story!

Recently I went into town to shop for a new computer keyboard. I could have bought one on the web but I wanted the item before the week-end, so I could not wait for it to be delivered and decided to shop at retail. A computer keyboard is a fairly common item and I expected to find a suitable model quite easily, but I actually ended up at 7 different shops before I finally made a purchase. How did that happen? Ten years ago I would not have done that.

What happened was that I did perform some research on the web for the best keyboard and the average retail price of the models I might want to purchase. At the first shop they has a suitable model, but it was sold for a full 50% more than the average retail price if purchased on the web, so I walked out. The second shop I entered had very good price, but only offered one model and it was out of stock, so I was out of luck. I then decided to try the shop that sold Macs around the corner, but they only sold apple branded keyboards. Apple keyboardsare great, but I am not ready to pay the $50 retail price, it's only a keyboard even if it is a stylish one. Mac accessory retail is obviously a lucrative business. The 4th shop was also flat out of stock on keyboard, and the next one was exceptionally closed.

When I entered the 6th shop my attention was drawn by a big sign: "sale today: buy two items and the second is half price". My hopes of a retail bargain were quickly squashed though: the shop only carried fairly high end wireless keyboard models that were overkill for my purpose, and I did not have any need for anything else in the shop, so the wonderful retail offer was not so wonderful after all. Finally I purchased my keyboard on my way out of town at a large entertainment shop that is part of a local retail franchise. That shop had a wide assortment of keyboard models from Logitec and Microsoft, and the prices were close to the best deals I could find on the web. The Microsoft branded keyboard I purchased cost me about $20 and is very pleasant and silent to type on.


So how did the web change the way we shop at retail?

Ten years ago when a consumer entered a shop he or she usually had very little knowledge of what products existed and at what prices. Some compared the offers of 2, maybe 3 retailers, but that was it. The salesman could afford to sell equipment above the average price, or to carry only high end items. If the same situation had happened ten years ago I would have purchased either the overpriced keyboard of the first shop or the apple keyboard of the third shop. Maybe I would have waited for the first shop to restock, but I doubt it.

Nowadays a lot of consumers do some product research on the web and compare the prices and models on several sites before they go to the shop. When they push the store door they already know what category of product they want, how much they will pay for it and probably which models and which brands they would consider an acceptable retail purchase. The salesman job is not to convince his clients to purchase the items he has in stock anymore, but to have in stock what his clients have already decided they want to buy.

Also web retail has the typical consumer spoiled for choice. With practically every model available on the web consumers are much less willing to settle for a second choice or an unknown brand than before. If the model they want is not in stock they don't buy an alternative, they just go look somewhere else, confident in the knowledge that they can always buy the model they want on the webshould "brick and mortar" retail fail to provide it.