Had an experience with Staples tonight that pretty much typifies how I view the purchasing experience these days in terms of bricks & mortar retailers:
- Check on Staples web site that they have item (type of pen) I'm looking for
- Make time to visit store in person, since shipping is excessive on a box of pens alone
- Visit store
- Store is out of stock on item (but they may have it in a few weeks!)
- Go home empty handed
- Order online
The same applies to clothing purchases (chains don't carry "tall" sizes in-store any more), electronics (retail overcharges), photographic equipment (it's cheaper to order online than take the subway to B&H, which is closed on Saturdays as well), and just about everything (even groceries!) Online shopping changes your expectations -- you believe you should be able to find whatever you want immediately (via searching), compare prices instantly, and shop any time you want.
One way online shopping has clearly affected my buying is that I now tend to have a specific item I want. I'm not thinking "box of pens" -- I'm looking for the particular model I'm already used to, because I know I can get it for a particular level of effort. As opposed to the old days, when the time or travel spent searching for that exact SKU would have been an unknown.
Aside from the most impulsive of purchases, or the biggest (cars, houses), physical stores are a losing game for most purchases.
