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In the past year or so, click-and-mortar stores like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City and others are moving their stock into their warehouses and out of their stores in an effort to beef up online sales and availability.
Unfortunately, many users, like me, continue to go to those websites to see local store availability for products they're looking to purchase and have in their hands now. (Hey, not only do you save on shipping, but you don't have to wait a few days for them to send it out either.) Recently, more and more users are being met with products that are mostly online and hard to find in their immediate area.
Unfortunately, many users, like me, continue to go to those websites to see local store availability for products they're looking to purchase and have in their hands now. (Hey, not only do you save on shipping, but you don't have to wait a few days for them to send it out either.) Recently, more and more users are being met with products that are mostly online and hard to find in their immediate area.
Take Walmart.com for example: I was searching for a bean bag chair so I
could get some extra seating for a movie gathering at my condo tonight.
Looking on Walmart, every single result (and there were 96 of them) was
listed as online only; every single product result for a brand whose primary
sales come from physical locations was in a warehouse somewhere -- not within driving distance!
So, instead of finding something in a store 2 miles from my house, I searched on Target.com. There were lots of options (even more than Walmart), but none were in the stores. Guess I'll go without the extra seating tonight after all...
If I wanted to view products and wasn't intending on going out to a store, I would have gone to Amazon.com in the first place.
If brands are making the move to become more online-centric, then they should introduce features to allow their consumers filter the results they're looking for: "only in stores," "in stores and online" and "online only." By making such a search easier for consumers, they might just convert the browsing into a purchase a little quicker with less effort.
So, instead of finding something in a store 2 miles from my house, I searched on Target.com. There were lots of options (even more than Walmart), but none were in the stores. Guess I'll go without the extra seating tonight after all...
If I wanted to view products and wasn't intending on going out to a store, I would have gone to Amazon.com in the first place.
If brands are making the move to become more online-centric, then they should introduce features to allow their consumers filter the results they're looking for: "only in stores," "in stores and online" and "online only." By making such a search easier for consumers, they might just convert the browsing into a purchase a little quicker with less effort.
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