New Age Shopping

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m hooked. I love on-line shopping, especially Amazon. It’s just so darn handy! I am centrally located on a farm about 65 km from four small  towns and 175 km from a city centre. Shopping means time spent on the road and gas money, and there’s times I don’t even find the product I’m looking for. If I’m not in a big hurry I can order what I need on-line and pick it up at my mail box. If I lived in the city my purchases would come right to my door. Hard to beat that! I can even buy for someone else and have it shipped directly to them. When my sister was in a retirement home 1500 miles away from me I could get her the things she needed with the tips of my fingers, right down to TV snacks, food supplements, socks, personal care items, cat food and kitty litter! And shipping costs are negligible. The cost of an Amazon Prime membership is less than the cost of one trip to town per month - with Prime there are no shipping charges.

Yes, of course, I have concerns - small business closures, lost jobs, the possibility of luring an unsuspecting public into a convenient system that becomes a monopoly when all the other options have been swallowed up. Nevertheless I think this is the wave of the future. Price, availability, convenience - that’s tough competition.

People tend to resist change but slowly it seeps into normalcy. Who would have thought, 20 or more years ago, that a business model such as this would catch on? Funny how science fiction becomes science fact. We’ve seen it often in the last 50 years or so.

How can small business stand in the way of a moving freight train - compete with the massive buying power, acres of warehousing facilities, door to door service, and corporate postal agreements of companies like Amazon? Pretty hard formula to beat! Now add a pandemic to this equation… The future of small business in-person shopping looks a bit glum.

On-line shopping is not the only culprit. Big box stores can slit the proverbial throats of many a small business when they arrive on the scene. That centralized location of mine gives me an opportunity for direct comparison of the downtown section of two communities, one with a vibrant downtown, the other one with lots of room to park. Guess which one has big box stores.

Some people like to shop, browse their way through the malls, pick up fresh foods for dinner, stop for lunch with a friend, check out new fashions, take advantage of sales. Most of these people live in a town or city, and these are the folks who are most likely to keep local shops thriving.

But, with computer shopping cornering more and more of the market it’s important for local outlets to pay attention to those qualities that attract customers to their door. Knowing your customers needs and making sure you are well stocked is important, but ambiance (as in the case of restaurants); clean, orderly and attractive display of goods; discounts (seniors love these), reward programs, membership rebates; competitive pricing; and catering to product requests can also make a difference. For me the single most important reason to shop in a particular store is courteous, friendly, knowledgeable SERVICE. A business that treats its customers like a valuable asset is a business that will retain customers. This is where good staff comes in. When I go to a store where the staff stands around chatting away with other staff members or on the phone, where they don’t know where products are located, have no product knowledge or if they even sell those products, where they treat me as if they’re doing me a favour by taking my money… well I find another store. 

Having said all this I need to stop and make an Amazon order. I need canning jar lids and they’re a hard commodity to find these days. The interrupted supply chain and an unexpected increase in demand seems to have caught local stores by surprise.

mltipton.blogspot.com, https://www.facebook.com/Northof543/, Nov. 1, 2021