04-15-2015, 12:22 PM | #31 |
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04-15-2015, 12:25 PM | #32 |
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04-15-2015, 12:30 PM | #33 |
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That's a different kettle of fish entirely from ethics. And I didn't complain when the last of my local bookshops disappeared. Back in 1978 I believe it was.
Last edited by DiapDealer; 04-15-2015 at 01:43 PM. |
04-15-2015, 12:50 PM | #34 |
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I don't see it as unethical, it's called shopping around.
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04-15-2015, 01:29 PM | #35 |
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I walked into a store one day looking at new tablets. The salesperson (one of the owner's sons) came up and extolled the virtues of whatever tablet I looked at. This went on for a good half-hour. I eventually asked how much for my choice. I was told an amount that I considered too much. I thanked him for his time and told him I was going to see his competitor across the street. The competitor saw where I was coming from and immediately brought me to his tablet section and quoted a price that was much more in line with my perceived value of the item. I purchased it.
I also returned to the original store and mentioned to the owner that I would have been glad to purchase there if he had reasonable rates to begin with. I mentioned this to some friends of mine who later went to the same original store and found that the prices had been adjusted appropriately. The moral of my story.....nothing...just bored and thought I'd tell a story.... ...it is a true story... Store owners SHOULD adjust their prices to an appropriate level if they want to stay in business...and there is absolutely nothing ethically wrong with it. BTW, the store was in Dubai. It seems that some here have a sense of privilege...they think that they are OWED a sale without having to follow the tenets of capitalism.... and resort to trying to guilt those who don't buy from them, instead of providing a better service and enticing more customers... |
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04-15-2015, 02:28 PM | #36 |
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I suspect that for every customer who browses in a book store and finds a book they like and then buys it elsewhere there are many more who didn't find anything they really wanted in the available selection and left unhappy or who never entered the store at all because they now browse and shop online. Blaming their problems on the ethics of others is silly.
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04-15-2015, 02:38 PM | #37 | |
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I can talk about browsing too. One thing I can say about B&N -- they are very good for finding out about all the books you already knew about, because you'd have to be blind and deaf not to. And too many B&Ns I have been to have a rather superficial stock even in the back... Last edited by eschwartz; 04-15-2015 at 02:41 PM. |
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04-15-2015, 07:41 PM | #38 | |
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Of course, many of the people who want to portray showrooming as unethical want to gloss over those points. Many B&M businesses want us to ignore what the can offer above and beyond online stores because they want to hire low cost labour (who rarely understands the product) and that have returns and exchanges as their only form of post-sale service. There are, of course, exceptions. Then again, I'm not hearing many of those exceptions complaining about showrooming. At the end of the day, I suspect that this is mostly a result of consumer expectations. They expect low cost products and have had businesses reenforce and expectation for low quality customer service. When they go into that major electronics chain or bookstore, they may see plenty of product but receive lackluster service and virtually non-existent support. If B&M stores want to survive, they have to change these expectations from consumers or switch to online business models. Then again, I suspect the whole notion of showrooming is vastly overblown. While price may be a factor driving people online, convenience is also a significant factor. Shopping in B&M stores, only to buy online, kinda kills the convenience factor. |
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04-15-2015, 10:46 PM | #39 |
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Gee! Here in my place we have some bookstores that are furnished with chairs and tables so we can sit there and read as much as we can before making purchases. Plus, there's a 20% discount for every title. I don't think there are any online bookstores that offer cheaper prices than that here. Anyways, I don't think it's unethical or considered shoplifting to browse different stores before buying something, regardless of online or real stores.
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04-16-2015, 03:34 AM | #40 |
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This David Nicolls doesn't know what he's talking about. By his logic you should never enter a book shop unless you mean to buy something. If everyone followed that bookstores would go out of the business sooner. I wonder if he's ever heard of impulse shopping. You know when you go in the shop to see something, maybe even inform yourself of the prices, with no intention to buy and you end up buying something else entirely. That happens all the time to normal people.
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04-16-2015, 07:13 AM | #41 | |
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And playing to the peanut gallery. Note the venue and crowd. And the rest of the speech. It's the special snowflake gang, trying to turn back the clock and pretending there is no such thing as comparison shopping. People walk into stores and walk out without buying every day the world over. They have for centuries. Has the guy never been dragged shopping by his wife/girlfriend/sister? Twenty stops to buy one fracking pair of shoes?! Idiot. |
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04-16-2015, 07:53 AM | #42 |
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04-16-2015, 07:57 AM | #43 | |
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Because it excludes the possibility of a purchase, on which the store's business model is based. The salesperson's time is given because you may decide to buy something, and by posing as a potential customer, you imply that you may want to buy. If you know that you won't, then you are being dishonesty, aren't you? I don't think it's a major crime, and it probably won't kill the store, but to the direct yes-or-no question whether it is ethical or not, I'd say no. |
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04-16-2015, 08:07 AM | #44 | |
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I don't agree with you, but I won't object to you viewing that as "unethical." My point is that "... and then buys it online" is simply not relevant to the topic. Not in the least. Last edited by DiapDealer; 04-16-2015 at 08:40 AM. |
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04-16-2015, 08:55 AM | #45 | |
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