Our Christmas-shopping experience: retailers take note
After many, many shopping trips we finally bought a camera for MrsDOF
You might think that buying a digital camera would be pretty simple, right? I mean, how many different models can there be - four? five? But the search is complicated a bit by the fact that I’m buying it for someone else... MrsDOF.
You see, she knows exactly what she wants in a camera, but she isn’t exactly the great communicator, if you know what I mean. This has led to many trips out to stores… “Do you like this one? How about this one?” Just to give you an idea, originally it was supposed to be her birthday present in June.
We finally bought one - and it took her exactly six minutes to decide what she wanted. This experience should be of intense interest to retailers, if any happen to stumble across my blog:
I’ve had a digital camera (Olympus C2700 Ultra-zoom) for three years now, and except for its bulk it has been entirely satisfactory in every way. But it’s a little techy-nerdy and I’m aware that MrsDOF prefers a simpler interface.
Prices had finally gotten low enough on the kind of cameras that she might like, so we went to one store (not to hame names, but it’s the store that “Sells For Less”) that had a good selection. She handled several, decided, and she asked the clerk to get one for her.
“Oh, that one’s out of stock.”
Could we buy the display model? No? All right then. (Here’s a tip, laddies… take a 3x5 index card and write “Out of stock” on it, and slip it into the price frame for that camera. For a half cent you can avoid wasting your customers’ time.)
OK, so here we are at another store (big yellow tag.) I pick up an Olympus. The clerk (who is less than half my age) snaps to attention, leans across the display counter, and says, in a voice that one might use if someone had picked up a ticking bomb:
“Sir! Just so you know, that camera doesn’t have a zoom of any kind!”
Hastily I put it down, afraid it might explode. No zoom! Of any kind! The Mrs and I look at several others, and finally find a Nikon 3200 that seems pretty nifty.
Different clerk: “I’m sorry, but that one’s out of stock.”
How about this one, then?
“Sorry, but that one’s out of stock, too. Pretty much only the ones with ribbons in front of them are in stock.”
There are “pretty much” about five models with ribbons, out of at least 25 different models. The dangerous, no-zoom model, is out-of-stock, along with every other camera in our price range. The clerk starts asking what features we’re looking for, and what kind of pictures we want to take, while I edge away.
“Yes, I know stocks would be low the day before Christmas,” I fume while we’re driving home. “That’s OK - but they should label the ones that are out-of-stock!”
At home I show MrsDOF a few cameras online. She reviews them with moderate interest. One is the Minolta Dimage XG, a cigarette-pack-sized model typical of Minolta’s superb engineering. Her face lights up:
“I like that one! I could use that!” Even after questions and other options, she comes back to it. We have a “hit.”
I’m using the ultra-capable Firefox web browser, so I drop down the search-engine menu to eBay, and hit “enter” (The name of the camera was still in the tool from when I Googled it.) It’s $180 with 8 minutes left on the auction. They have 16 of them, so there’s no rush - whatever they don’t sell, they’ll re-post.
“Are you sure? There’s no hurry.”
“I like it. That’s the one.”
A few clicks later, it’s on the way - with 2 minutes left in the auction. I know the satisfaction rating of the seller because it’s right there on the screen: 98.8 percent. I’ve talked to enough of the retail place’s customers to know their satisfaction rating isn’t anywhere near that high.
I also know that the old adage; “buy local because you might need service” doesn’t wash anymore. This camera had a DOA warranty (Dead On Arrival) from the seller and 3 months refurb warranty from Minolta. With electronics, if it lasts through the first month, you’re pretty much in for a normal lifespan. By the time it fails, that model will be ten cents on the dollar on eBay.
But doesn’t the salesman give you needed information? Not likely. For good or ill, the days of specialty salespeople are long gone. But I can learn everything I want to know by reading user reviews - actual users’ gripes about the product. If it has any annoying features, I’ll know. As for technical details, I can read freelance technical reviewers like Jeff Keller, who writes the Digital Camera Resource Page. No salesman could possibly know that much about that many cameras.
Retailers should be thinking deeply about the online shopping experience. Thinking what, I don’t know; but they should be thinking.
I do a huge amount of my shopping online. That said, I find going to electronic retailers like Best Buy and the like valuable for three reasons:
1. I like being able to pick up and poke and look at and prod the equipment. I wouldn’t buy a digital camera without a lot of “hands-on” first, even if it’s tethered to the display by an annoying security cord. Of course, if it’s then out of stock at the store, I can always do some web shopping, find the best price, and buy it that way.
2. Immediate gratification. You walk out of the store and you have it in your hot little hands. I find this is most valuable at the highest end (once I screw up the courage and money to buy something expensive, I want the payoff *now*, dammit) and the lowest end (damn, forgot a cable I needed ...).
2b. Immediate returns/replacement if something is wrong. It’s fine having a DOA warranty from an online/catalog sales, but it’s nice to be able to walk back in, find the sales guy, and say, “Remember me?”
3. The last three computers we bought for the house were open box specials at a local electronics retailer. The price was cheap, the feature set high, and I could judge for myself whether the missing or scraped pieces were key to my consumer enjoyment.
That said, the advantage in online sales of reviews (particularly by pros, but occasionally the “just plain folks” reviews will reveal other questions that need to be addressed) is big, and I often adopt a hybrid approach:
A. Go to the store. Get a feel for what’s out there. Write down some models and prices.
B. Go home. Research. Price compare. Read reviews. Learn the difference between product A and product B and whether it’s a real difference to me.
C. Either go back to the store or buy it online.
That strategy has served us well with most of our equipment purchases for the last five years or so, and I’ll likely trust it for what we do with the Tpurchases upcoming.
Posted by *** Dave on 12/26/04 at 02:21 PM
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