I'm not sure how many of you all have or currently work in a LBS, or for that matter any small local business; for those of you who do/have however, perhaps you'll appreciate my frustration and inability to comprehend the actions of people. We all know that the internet has given rise to bargain-basement style shopping available to people 24/7/365. At first, this was difficult for most small businesses to accept, but for now, things seem to be going well. People still need service work and the ability to talk directly with a reliable source of information, rather than simply relying on the faceless internet.
What bothers me though is how I can have a customer walk into my shop, sit and talk with me for 15-20 minutes about various parts, allow me to give him suggestions on how to install the brakes and fork which he got a screaming deal online; and then when I'm asked "how much do these tires go for" and I point to the Nevegal's I've got hanging and say $50, I get "cool, so do you think I can probably get those online?"
Who does that? I even proceed to tell this customer that I can probably match any online price (even if it means cutting our profits to basically nothing). For some reason though, he seems to think I'm being an ass and simply restates "I'll just get some online". Why are people so opposed to buying things locally, even when it's just as cheap or even cheaper then online prices?
I have no issue with someone buying something elsewhere when it is in fact cheaper. But when it's a matter of less than $5-10 difference, and you don't have to wait, and your supporting local businesses, why shop online?
Perhaps I'm missing something here, discuss...
What bothers me though is how I can have a customer walk into my shop, sit and talk with me for 15-20 minutes about various parts, allow me to give him suggestions on how to install the brakes and fork which he got a screaming deal online; and then when I'm asked "how much do these tires go for" and I point to the Nevegal's I've got hanging and say $50, I get "cool, so do you think I can probably get those online?"
Who does that? I even proceed to tell this customer that I can probably match any online price (even if it means cutting our profits to basically nothing). For some reason though, he seems to think I'm being an ass and simply restates "I'll just get some online". Why are people so opposed to buying things locally, even when it's just as cheap or even cheaper then online prices?
I have no issue with someone buying something elsewhere when it is in fact cheaper. But when it's a matter of less than $5-10 difference, and you don't have to wait, and your supporting local businesses, why shop online?
Perhaps I'm missing something here, discuss...