I swear you cannot just go to the store and buy something anymore. Try to go buy a toaster, or counter top can opener. Nope... you have to order it and deliver to store in 2-3 days or to home in 5-10 days.

I swear everything I want to buy I have to order and have delivered. No wonder retail is failing.

Then, when you order it... it's back ordered. They don't tell you that, and show plenty in stock but sorry, we'll let you know when it will ship. You'll be charged for it today of course so the credit card bill will likely be paid before it ever arrives.

Oh, and when it does ship, even though you carefully ordered to assure you'd be home, we will delay or back order to assure the 1 day you aren't home, is the day we'll deliver.

<Rant off>

Yep. Why would I order it through a store when I can order it myself? The two advantages that brick and mortar have to offer are in-person customer service and immediate fulfilment. I'm so sick of having to run all over town to five different stores just to get basic items for a project. If you can't keep items in stock then you're no good to me...don't even bother having a store .

quote:

No wonder retail is failing.

In defense of brick and mortar retailers ~ it is not their fault.
It cost money to hold inventory plus a plethora of other expenses.
Of course everyone loves to buy on the Internet for obvious reasons.
It is an evolution of technology/business rather than a failure of {fill in the blank}.

Nothing in stock. And usually, nothing good in stock.

For example, there are a bunch of recommended tool brands here. Most of them not available at any local store. Much of products available on shelf are cheap chicom crap.

It's why I'm still, for example, stuck w/ Prime because as long as I have to order online, might as well get free 2 day shipping. I'd buy local, even w/ incrementally higher price, if I could. I just can't.

If it’s toilet parts, the answer seems to be no. I need new tank to bowl bolts and seals for one toilet and a flapper seal for another. Not Lowes, not Home Depot, not Ace and not even Amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Of course everyone loves to buy on the Internet for obvious reasons.

I used to, but not any longer. When Amazon had 2-day delivery, I really enjoyed it. One stop shopping. Now that that has been replaced with 2-week delivery, I'd much rather drive down to the hardware store and buy what I need. Sometimes going right to the vendors site will get quicker shipping (or at least an offer to pay for quicker shipping) but I find that generally the prices are higher. Yeah, I can shop around online and find what I want at the price/shipping that I want, but frankly it's becoming a real pain in the ass when I can just walk into a store and walk out with what I want/need.

I agree, seems like nobody keeps anything actually in the store anymore. And some things I would like to look at in person, and that never happens. I’ve begrudgingly done the online ordering a couple times, luckily the items did meet expectations, and shipping was free, and came to our home. But I preferred going to the store, looking at what I wanted, and maybe would spend more on other things that I would see, which would also help the store in sales.
Not like the old days I guess.

Yeah, our shop has a JOT inventory system. Everything shows up just outta time.

They said it was the way of the future. but everything shows up in the future.

Too bad our clients needed it now...

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
It cost money to hold inventory plus a plethora of other expenses.

It's true. A loooong time ago I worked at a family-owned tire store. We kept a LOT of inventory, for such a small shop. The benefit was that when a customer came in wanting "that" tire, we probably had it.

Over time, I saw that we were keeping less on hand. Being the curious sort, I asked about it. The answer was simple: "inventory costs money." Naturally, I countered with "but we can't sell it if we don't have it." And the answer again was simple: "true, but we can have it tomorrow."

Our distributor was nearby and kept a metric doo-doo ton of inventory. Truly, we could have just about anything we needed the very next day, for next to no cost. So it made sense: the distributor incurred the cost of inventory, and we didn't have to stock/count/track nearly as many sizes and types of tires. We kept on hand the sizes and types that sold most, and requested whatever else we needed. We reduced our inventory storage area by about 75%.

Certainly, there were times when a customer needed a tire (or a set) right now, and we had to put them off by a day. Most understood, some were a little uptight. In all, I don't think it cost us very many sales.

Bringing the story back to the present: the premise is the same -- if my distributor will buy it and hold it, and I can have it tomorrow, then why shouldn't I take advantage of that? The counter to that, though, is this whole supply chain disruption we've dealt with over the past three years or so. It's not as likely that the local warehouse has it, and it may take longer to get [thanks to shortages of materials and labor -- a whole 'nother rant].

Add to that some 30 years' worth of e-commerce development and fast shipping, and that brings us to now -- most people are savvy/sorry enough to simply order what they want online and have it brought right to their doorsteps. **

If I've got time to wait on something, I don't mind to order it. But if it's something I need quickly (materials for home repairs, for instance), I'm grateful to those vendors/retailers who have some inventory I can put my hands on now. And I'll support them to the extent I can, to help keep them in a position to keep stocking things (and keep local folks employed). Admittedly, I'll play both sides of the coin -- I'm all about getting things more quickly and less expensively, but I recognize the benefit to supporting the local economy even if it costs me a [reasonable] bit more.

- - - - -

** My good example: tires. I know my local shop doesn't keep much on hand. I can visit Tire Rack online, though, search through a bajillion different grades and brands of tires, find what I want, and place the order. The last time I did so, I had tires on my porch the very next day (from a warehouse somewhere in Maryland, no less). Hauled 'em over to the local shop and got them installed and got the car aligned. I saved time and money on getting the tires, and patronized the local shop for the labor. For me, it was a win-win.

I understand the cost of inventory. And for many things like furniture or tires or appliances, I don’t really expect stock in store. However, lately there have been many things that aren’t kept in store (even if online inventory indicates otherwise). Perhaps other solutions like warehouse will call. I drove to the store recently to buy something. No stock so I ordered online. The warehouse was literally just 15 minutes away. The warehouse, it turns out, was closer to home than the store.

When a local store loses a sale because of inventory, they don’t necessarily lose that sale to online from the same store. They probably lose it to any number of online retail sources. And not just that sale. They lose the opportunity to establish / maintain a loyalty relationship and customer doesn’t even come back for the next sale.

The local hw store may be helpful and friendly but I’ll never know. Anything I’ve wanted to purchase from them for the past year hasn’t been in stock. I won’t even check them now.

Another consideration is sharing information to order something. I don’t want my info in their system with my CC number. Just another place to get breached. I also HATE needing to remove myself from mailing lists. Hate hate hate. Hate.

I usually call ahead to check these days. Now if they tell me it is in stock, and I drive there, I will be pissed if it’s not there.

On another note, how fun do you think it is for retailers to have you come in, pick up the item you have in stock, take a picture of it/ask for the name, model number, etc, or Google it right in front of them and then go buy it online? After the clerk has taken the time and trouble to read you chapter and verse about the value of the product and encourage your purchase? Retailers are pretty tired of that, too. It’s not worth it.

I used to call ahead as well but stopped as it was proven unreliable.

Unless the brick and mortar price is unreasonably higher than online, I will buy locally. I don't mind incrementally higher prices to support local labor and brick and mortar costs.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
It cost money to hold inventory plus a plethora of other expenses.

It's true. A loooong time ago I worked at a family-owned tire store. We kept a LOT of inventory, for such a small shop. The benefit was that when a customer came in wanting "that" tire, we probably had it.

I was in the AV (Audio first then Video was added) retail business late 70's, early 80's, then wholesale computer/electronics after that.
We always had a budget of how much inventory we could carry.
It would vary with items, number of inventory turns, profit margin and storage costs.
When we didn't have something - we sold something else.
That was in a time long lost, when an actual salesman had to have some intelligence among other qualities.
If customer came in for one reason or another and wanted a receiver and it was not in stock we found something else that would work for them ... and we could deliver.
What's wrong with that? Nothing, but today the thinking salesman is a dinosaur.
Sure we want to have everything in stock, all the time but you have to be realistic.

I hear this tale of woe all the time from family members who live in very rural farm/ranch areas.

Not much population, very few services and goods, etc.

Need a new battery for your car? It'll be here tomorrow, or the next day. Need to drive it? Keep a fully charged jumper box in the car.

Pharmacies? Need a certain drug? Maybe in stock. Might be able to get it tomorrow, or the next day. Or the next day after that.

One grocery store, insane prices.
.

You have family that lives around here? I didn't know that.

In general it boils down to the public wanting brick and mortar to have what they want, but offer it at internet prices. Even "a little bit more" or a "small premium" doesn't come close to covering the overhead many times. So here we are, and it's getting worse.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
In general it boils down to the public wanting brick and mortar to have what they want, but offer it at internet prices. Even "a little bit more" or a "small premium" doesn't come close to covering the overhead many times. So here we are, and it's getting worse.

You just made me think the college paper that gave birth to FedEx was the seed that started this. From overnight shipping of mails and dcouments to two day shipping of goods.

quote:

In general it boils down to the public wanting brick and mortar to have what they want, but offer it at internet prices. Even "a little bit more" or a "small premium" doesn't come close to covering the overhead many times. So here we are, and it's getting worse.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree. I will shop locally whenever I can. I run a business. When people complain that their internet purchase does not work as advertised I have very little sympathy. I miss the local hardware stores. The help could assist in many ways, Home Depot cannot offer much advice.

I have a Mom and Pop hardware store near me . They are affiliated with Ace Hardware . Decent selection of the odds and ends I need most of the time . I try them first before going to the big box stores .

I have started to stockpile items I know go out of stock frequently!!!