Internet Shopping

As gas prices increase, I suspect internet shopping will increase also.  Today was a good example of that for me personally. I was looking to replace the filter bag and media for our small fish and water garden in our front courtyard.  My first choice was to drive 3 minutes to the Milford fountain store. Once there, it was closed and I diverted to Pets Smart (no luck there) and Lowes (also not the right parts).  Time spent: 1 hr;  Gas:  12 miles - $2.60

Frustrated, I began searching the internet and BINGO - there must have been thirty choices.  This is where the power of the search engine can help the online retailer.  How to get "grab" the attention and dollars from the internet surfer.  After I had determined the merchanise that I wanted, I began to compare prices (filter media can be expensive).  Then, I remembered that I had signed Susan up for the Amazon.com Prime shipping advantage (free shipping).  So I abandoned the pondoutlet.com site that I was initally connected with, and found the same material on Amazon.

Much to my surprise, Amazon's prices were higher (and significantly higher).  So back to pondoutlet.com I went.  I was about to order from that site and upon checkout the shipping and handling of $14.89 appeared.  That was pretty steep for a $22 order.  I went back to Amazon to see if the free shipping outweighed the higher retail price.  Interestingly, the total price with tax was higher by $2. 

Time, gas, convenience, selection, availability and price comparison are overpowering the local retail advantage.  As internet shopping becomes a habit (and ubiquitous with smart phones), local retailers must find other ways to differentiate - service, knowledge transfer, and proactive sales.