Target to stop carrying Amazon Kindle

[Kumabjorn]

I think HarryT meant that if you only check out merchandise in the store and then buy online, in the future there will no longer be stores and you won't be able to check out the goods beforehand. My grand-mother told me how surprised she was the first time she came to a city (1920's) and found out that they had stores where you could try before you buy. She was used to purchasing from catalogs, choosing from b&w pictures, and then having to fix things so they fit. We would be going back to something similar. Used to be that all golf clubs had a pro shop on site, with big box stores and online shopping they are disappearing, with it goes the ability to have a cart fixed, a club re-gripped etc.
That may be going with the tide, but it also means that you will have to accept a lower grade of service.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I think HarryT meant that if you only check out merchandise in the store and then buy online, in the future there will no longer be stores and you won't be able to check out the goods beforehand.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I think HarryT meant that if you only check out merchandise in the store and then buy online, in the future there will no longer be stores and you won't be able to check out the goods beforehand. My grand-mother told me how surprised she was the first time she came to a city (1920's) and found out that they had stores where you could try before you buy. She was used to purchasing from catalogs, choosing from b&w pictures, and then having to fix things so they fit. We would be going back to something similar. Used to be that all golf clubs had a pro shop on site, with big box stores and online shopping they are disappearing, with it goes the ability to have a cart fixed, a club re-gripped etc.
That may be going with the tide, but it also means that you will have to accept a lower grade of service.

If no one buys anything at a store, for any reason, the store will close. That has nothing to do with shopping for online purchases.
That some people shop for some things in store and buy them on line in no way leads to the conclusion that this behavior will actually or even likely lead to the demise of pro shops, etc.
It does mean that some stores might want to rethink some strategies if the want to do better against online competition.

To say that a customer using a store as an online outlet's showroom is unethical, or to single it out as the path to failure of the store, is to say competition and innovation in the marketplace is bad, or that having a public showroom is a poor business choice.
Neither of these are true IMO.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

For stuff where people are satisfied to buy without seeing, so be it.
For stuff where they did need to see it and belatedly regret the loss, if that happens (and I don't think it will, because, as I suggested above, many of the people browsing the grills are also walking out with a hammer, a can of WD-40 and a box of lightbulbs as long as they were there...) someone will fill the market need in new way that addresses the concern.
Perhaps by-appointment showrooms, concierge service, in-home-for-a-fee demos...whatever.

No ethics issue in any case as far as I can see.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by ApK

For stuff where people are satisfied to buy without seeing, so be it.
For stuff where they did need to see it and belatedly regret the loss, if that happens (and I don't think it will, because, as I suggested above, many of the people browsing the grills are also walking out with a hammer, a can of WD-40 and a box of lightbulbs as long as they were there...) someone will fill the market need in new way that addresses the concern.
Perhaps by-appointment showrooms, concierge service, in-home-for-a-fee demos...whatever.

No ethics issue in any case as far as I can see.

It already is happening. Best Buy and Barnes & Noble are two examples of the last of their kind left and both are on the verge of collapse.

It's not unethical to browse around a store to see what they offer. The unethical part comes in when people go to these places with no other intentions except browsing with plans to buy elsewhere. You are receiving a service and not paying for it. If people can't understand why that isn't ethical, and why companies don't appreciate that, that is a poor reflection on today's society.

And do you really think a store like Home Depot can survive selling light bulbs and WD-40 when so much display space is taken up by big ticket items?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by pl001

It already is happening. Best Buy and Barnes & Noble are two examples of the last of their kind left and both are on the verge of collapse.

I have indeed heard Best Buy called "Amazon's Showroom," though I think their situation may have as much to do with the fact that an inanimate website is sometimes more polite and usually far more knowledgeable and helpful than the staff there.

B&N is not failing because people browse books there and then buy at Amazon. It's failing because people shop and buy at Amazon.

It's not unethical to browse around a store to see what they offer. The unethical part comes in when people go to these places with no other intentions except browsing with plans to buy elsewhere. You are receiving a service and not paying for it.

There is no difference.
I can choose to not buy because I have in mind to buy elsewhere, I can not buy because the price is too high, I can not buy because the store is too far from my home, I can shop there and not buy for any reason I choose.
Once I am in the store, they can try to sell to me and I am free to not buy. That's their reason for being.
They want you in the store. They chose to make a public accommodation to get me in there, and I owe them nothing for availing myself of it.

If people can't understand why that isn't ethical, and why companies don't appreciate that, that is a poor reflection on today's society.

I'm sure companies don't 'appreciate' people buying elsewhere for any reason.
But they are not there be appreciated. They are there to serve people and must appreciate anyone talking the time to walk in the door.

You are simply wrong in your understanding of the retail business, ethics, and society.
One reason Best Buy isn't doing so well is that their people seem to have the attitude that you do: That the public is there to do them a favor. It's your attitude that is partly responsible for overblown sense of entitlement that some people have, resulting in poor service driving people to shop online.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by ApK

There is no difference.
I can choose to not buy because I have in mind to buy elsewhere, I can not buy because the price is too high, I can not buy because the store is too far from my home, I can shop there and not buy for any reason I choose.

-snip-

You are simply wrong in your understanding of the retail business, ethics, and society.
One reason Best Buy isn't doing so well is that their people seem to have the attitude that you do: That the public is there to do them a favor. It's your attitude that is partly responsible for overblown sense of entitlement that some people have, resulting in poor service driving people to shop online.

There is indeed a difference between comparison shopping at a store and browsing at a store to see an item hands-on with no intention of buying there. To insist otherwise and use that to claim I'm the one with an "entitlement" attitude is ridiculous.

Ethical or not, you are free to buy wherever you choose, nobody has claimed otherwise. Just don't whine when stores like Target stop carrying the products you like to browse. It costs money to display something and carry it in inventory. That's the point some of us are trying to get accross.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by pl001

Ethical or not, you are free to buy wherever you choose, nobody has claimed otherwise. Just don't whine when stores like Target stop carrying the products you like to browse. It costs money to display something and carry it in inventory. That's the point some of us are trying to get accross.

And I agree completely.
If you want to have a local showroom to browse, you need to patronize your local showroom, or don't complain.
It's just the ethics issue I disagree with.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by pl001

It already is happening. Best Buy and Barnes & Noble are two examples of the last of their kind left and both are on the verge of collapse.

Best buy?!?

[pl001]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

Best buy?!?

Yes.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...814079726.html

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by pl001

Ethical or not, you are free to buy wherever you choose, nobody has claimed otherwise. Just don't whine when stores like Target stop carrying the products you like to browse. It costs money to display something and carry it in inventory. That's the point some of us are trying to get accross.

My fault, sorry. I first saw the pearl screen on the Kindle 3 at Target and was enamored. After much deliberation (months) I finally made an impulse buy at the Staples next to my work.

[johnnyb]

The B&M stores should install terminals all over their stores where people could check online reviews from Amazon et al. At least for me I more often than not want to read some of those before buying an item... If, upon surfing for these, the in-store price is ridiculously higher (very often the case with accessories etc), I consider not buying at rip-off price... And I fully understand people who do the same... If it is only a couple of bucks difference AND the item has good reviews, I buy in store...

[Fbone]

Visited a local Target yesterday. They had a few Kindles, Nooks and Sonys. Of course, none of the demo models were working.

[Gardenman]

I have found the same thing as Fbone. No matter what store i go to the demo model is either not working or they do not have a demo model. If they do have a demo model no one in the store knows how to make it work.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Visited a local Target yesterday. They had a few Kindles, Nooks and Sonys. Of course, none of the demo models were working.

I wonder if the demo iPads will work?