Once upon a time shopping involved going down to a shopping centre getting whatever standard of service you got, More often than not the same shops were in every shopping centre and the ability to go somewhere else was often limited. In many cases this meant that the standard of service was low and in most cases the customer expectation were low as well. The bricks and mortar stores dominated the market, ordering things from overseas was at best a hit and miss affair, it could take months for things to arrive and ass often as not they never arrived at all.
Then along came the internet and suddenly it was easy to find shops that could sell you practically anything, and often at a price that was better than the local version. At first I was mainly aware of book and CD stores like Amazon, and I only recall buying books mainly because they had titles I couldn't find in New Zealand. It was still easier to go into a shop and pick up the book, and buy it there and then rather than wait for weeks to get a parcel in the mail.
In the electronics and computer supplies area, it seemed a better bet to buy of your local store because you could take the item back to them if something went wrong and they could fix it. I well recall taking a computer back to the store and being thankful I'd bought the machine locally because they fixed it for me in a week. At the time the internet suppliers appeared to be a little more dodgy, you'd here stories of it being impossible to contact people, how after sales service was non-existent and that was if you didn't stumble upon an out an out con site.
But the on line sites got better, and it didn't take long to find out who was cheap, reliable and provided good before and after sales service. Word of mouth was no longer just the people you knew but the people who commented on service on forums. Somewhere in the last ten years or so, I found that I was regularly buying form Ascent Technology, they supplied items usually the next day (and on occasions the same day), were competiviely priced and they responded promptly to questions sent. As I found out in due course, they also dealt with faults quickly, online channel became easier to deal with than the local shop.
Now recent experiences with retail shops make me think they're going in the opposite direction, they don't seem to be able to compete on price (with possible exception of JB Hi-Fi), they make if difficult to get anything repaired, they have lost their customer focus and seem more interested in selling you extra cables you don't want or need than making the whole customer experience pleasant.
So in my view online retailers like Ascent Technology are now top dog in the retail market. They remarkably now even give a three year warranty off the bat, meanwhile I'm down my local retailer arguing over an item that is just over a year old. The crux of the issue is that the best online retailers realise they are providing a service and it extends across the whole experience. The local shops think the service is flogging a product off to you and getting you out the door, they don't expect you to come back with a fault and make it difficult for you if you do.
