{"id":4504,"date":"2014-09-24T15:30:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T14:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.repricerexpress.com\/?p=4504"},"modified":"2024-12-20T12:18:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T12:18:41","slug":"buying-online-vs-offline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repricerexpress.com\/buying-online-vs-offline\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying Online vs Offline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Selling on Amazon is a great and wonderful thing, it allows you to grow a business with little overheads. Instead of using the one-year timeline that brick-and-mortar stores need for breaking even, you can get started on earning a profit right away. Plus, it\u2019s easier to see how things are flying off your virtual shelves when you get a constant digital readout of it, as opposed to having to count shirts or CDs on physical shelves.<\/h4>\n

But one area where offline stores have a distinct advantage is in how merchandise leaves their hands and goes home with customers. Absenting online ordering and delivery, all a physical store has to do is stock their shelves and provide a bag for the purchased item(s). But is this the better scenario for customers? RepricerExpress<\/a> brings you the knockout round: buying online vs offline!<\/p>\n

Round One: Convenience<\/h2>\n

We\u2019re going to adapt the laws of physics quite liberally here and come up with a formula: time multiplied or divided by money equals maximally efficient convenience. Let\u2019s look at an example. If you need to spend one hour buying\u00a0products and that one hour of labour costs you, say, $50, then that\u2019ll be your baseline.<\/p>\n

However, is that based on online or in-store buying? If your maximally efficient convenience co-efficient (MECC) can be reduced from buying\u00a0online as opposed to in-store (such as in half), then your baseline MECC isn\u2019t a very good number currently. It\u2019s also almost always the case that buying\u00a0online is the more efficient way to go, as you don\u2019t have to deal with extra costs like transportation, loss of work time, or paying ridiculous amounts for store-bought coffee.<\/p>\n

Round Two: Speed<\/h2>\n

To borrow more literally and liberally from physics, a basic law of quickness<\/a> can be summed up as such: speed equals distance divided by time.<\/strong> This formula is by no means the ultimate or definitive one when determining speed \u2014 especially when you look at things like averages, displacements and velocities \u2014 but it\u2019ll do for now.<\/p>\n

When it comes to buying, there\u2019s no question about the speed factor. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re shipping in DVDs from Hollywood: no matter how fast the Pony Express goes, there are still thousands of miles for those horsies to cover (they also need pit stops and bathroom breaks, too). But if you\u2019re buying\u00a0your merchandise in-store, then the amount of time needed for a customer\u2019s pair of feet to cover the distance of the store is much faster. Your shoppers don\u2019t need to rely on next-day delivery to get their precious goodies in their hands \u2014 they get the satisfaction of instant gratification.<\/p>\n

Round Three: Pricing<\/h2>\n

Everyone\u2019s familiar with the Einsteinian law of e=mc2, but how would you actually use it in real life? Well, let’s take a look at what each segment means, and how we can adapt it to suit our own needs:<\/p>\n