Selling on Amazon is a great and wonderful thing, it allows you to grow a business with little overheads. Instead of using the one-year timeline that brick-and-mortar stores need for breaking even, you can get started on earning a profit right away. Plus, it’s easier to see how things are flying off your virtual shelves when you get a constant digital readout of it, as opposed to having to count shirts or CDs on physical shelves.
But one area where offline stores have a distinct advantage is in how merchandise leaves their hands and goes home with customers. Absenting online ordering and delivery, all a physical store has to do is stock their shelves and provide a bag for the purchased item(s). But is this the better scenario for customers? RepricerExpress brings you the knockout round: buying online vs offline!
Round One: Convenience
We’re going to adapt the laws of physics quite liberally here and come up with a formula: time multiplied or divided by money equals maximally efficient convenience. Let’s look at an example. If you need to spend one hour buying products and that one hour of labour costs you, say, $50, then that’ll be your baseline.
However, is that based on online or in-store buying? If your maximally efficient convenience co-efficient (MECC) can be reduced from buying online as opposed to in-store (such as in half), then your baseline MECC isn’t a very good number currently. It’s also almost always the case that buying online is the more efficient way to go, as you don’t have to deal with extra costs like transportation, loss of work time, or paying ridiculous amounts for store-bought coffee.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_highlight color=”#eeee22″ rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]Winner: Online[/fusion_highlight]
Round Two: Speed
To borrow more literally and liberally from physics, a basic law of quickness can be summed up as such: speed equals distance divided by time. This formula is by no means the ultimate or definitive one when determining speed — especially when you look at things like averages, displacements and velocities — but it’ll do for now.
When it comes to buying, there’s no question about the speed factor. Let’s say you’re shipping in DVDs from Hollywood: no matter how fast the Pony Express goes, there are still thousands of miles for those horsies to cover (they also need pit stops and bathroom breaks, too). But if you’re buying your merchandise in-store, then the amount of time needed for a customer’s pair of feet to cover the distance of the store is much faster. Your shoppers don’t need to rely on next-day delivery to get their precious goodies in their hands — they get the satisfaction of instant gratification.
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_highlight color=”#eeee22″ rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]Winner: In-store[/fusion_highlight]
Round Three: Pricing
Everyone’s familiar with the Einsteinian law of e=mc2, but how would you actually use it in real life? Well, let’s take a look at what each segment means, and how we can adapt it to suit our own needs:
- e: Stands for energy, and we can substitute “demand” for it instead.
- m: Mass, but we can use it for merchandise.
- c2: How fast light travels in a vacuum, or how fast an item moves depending on price.
I’m not very good at crunching numbers, as I prefer to talk about math problems with words instead. So, to use e= mc2 for buying, one of the big deciding factors is how you price things (c2). Your law will change depending on how your reprice your goods, and even on if it’s being repriced online or in-store.
In-store, you can easily set up a bargain bin or tack on discount stickers on your products, thereby altering the value of e, which will, in turn, affect the other two values. Online, though, it’s different because all you have to do is set up your repricing software to lower or raise your prices exactly when you want and how you want.
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_highlight color=”#eeee22″ rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]Winner: Online[/fusion_highlight]
Final Verdict
Perhaps we’re a little biased here, but on the whole, we think buying goods online is a cheaper and more convenient than buying offline, even though delivery, or the fact that it’s not needed is better addressed offline. What you find better is ultimately up to your personality, store and preferences. Some customers find buying online far better for their own needs, while others wouldn’t dream of buying anywhere else but in-store. And sometimes, going after a happy medium is the best way to go.
One thing that we here at RepricerExpress will always choose is the concept of repricing so you can keep afresh of the latest demands and market trends. And just to sweeten the pot, we’ve got a 15-day free trial with your name all over it, so hop on-board and deliver your own knockout punch to your competitors.
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