Quote:
Originally Posted by scrapking
I went to several seminars at the most recent ExpoCycle trade show in Toronto. One presenter there said Amazon had tried and failed to crack the Canadian nut.
Amazon has encouraged "showrooming" in the U.S. and elsewhere, the abysmal practice of consumers looking at and/or trying out items in store, then going on to Amazon (often in the store with their smartphone, with tools Amazon provides) to see if they can buy it more cheaply. It's a practice with questionable ethics, when you using up the staff time and other resources of the store for your benefit, then buy elsewhere.
Canadians, however, typically do the opposite. We tend to go online to research our purchases, and once we've decided what we're going to get we tend to go into a local store to buy it. That doesn't fit with Amazon's business model, and I suspect plays into the amount of effort they put into Canada. Of course, things like this can be chicken and egg...
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My neighbor shops like that. She asks around, figures out what brand/model she wants and then looks for an actual store. I always thought it was maybe her generation (because she is older than me) but who knows. Maybe it's habit!