Working in the retail business means I often stand back and look at my shopping behaviors. With the Christmas shopping season now gone I wanted to make a few notes on how my shopping behaviors changed for this season. This year I can honestly say that I had a big shift in the way that shopping was done.
It all comes down to three things: Amazon Prime, my iPhone, and RedLaser.
I’ve had Amazon Prime for a couple of years now. It is very convenient to look something up on Amazon, click the “Two Day One-Click” button and whamo! Two days later it shows up on my doorstep. And during the holiday season it is really worth it. We had boxes arriving every other day. It’s even convenient to send to people who are out of state. I don’t have to buy a present and take it to the post office to ship — I just buy it from Amazon and have them ship it.
By my estimates about 60% of this years gifts came from Amazon. That’s a lot more than in years past. Why so many more than before? Easy… my iPhone. I made an earlier post about all the things I could do with my iPhone. The following are all the things I did just with my shopping this year using the iPhone, RedLaser, and the Amazon app:
- During a conversation with someone about a gift idea I looked it up on Amazon, clicked one button and ordered it. Showed up two days later.
- In looking at a gift at a store I wanted to see reviews on it. So I looked it up on Amazon and read the reviews (which were good). I also saw that the price in the store was slightly better than Amazon (rare) so I bought the item.
- At Target I went to get an item that they had on sale. They were out of them. Looked it up on Amazon and they had it for the same price. I ordered it right there.
- Several times while looking at items in the store I used RedLaser to scan the barcode to see if it was cheaper online. Sometimes it was and I’d just order it instead of buying it.
- Several times I used the iPhone to look up a store to call them and get hours or information.
So what can I learn from all of this? For me, having inventory at the best price is what it takes. With an online shipment only two days away and free shipping it makes it hard for the brick and mortar store to compete, especially with things that are the same everywhere — books, movies, electronics, video games, toys, etc. (Oh… and did I mention that you don’t pay sales tax when ordering from Amazon?) Welcome to 2010 ladies and gentlemen.
Family Man
