Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Why People Prefer to Shop Online



For some items, there's no need to see it. You buy a hardcover book, and it's the same whether it's from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the last of the local indies.

But there are things where you want to see it, to feel it, to try it on, to examine its quality. Home accessories is such a purchase.

After shopping and being underwhelmed at the few choices for the sidelight windows on either side of my front door, I decided to make curtains. I shopped locally for fabric and didn’t see anything that I liked. I ordered some online. When it arrived and I determined it would be fine—you never know until you see and touch it—I started shopping for curtain rods and lining fabric.

Here’s what happened when I went to JoAnn Fabrics on the final day of a particular coupon. The coupon reads, in big letters:

FINAL DAY!
IN-STORE ONLY
50%
PLUS EXTRA
30%
OFF YOUR
TOTAL
PURCHASE OF
HOME DECOR
FABRIC

It took a while to find drapery linings, but I chose a thin one that would work. It was on a roll like gift wrap rather than a flat bolt, the roll hung on a display by means of a wooden rod inserted through it.

After a substantial wait for my turn at the cutting counter, I got the yardage I needed cut. I went straight to the line at the cash registers. (Lots of lines at JoAnn, all the time.) Only then did I look at the slip in my hand. It showed my fabric was 30% off, not 50% off.

When it was my turn, I explained to the cashier that this was home decor fabric and they were all supposed to be 50% off according to their mailed flyer and the coupon on my phone. I showed her the coupon. (I didn’t bring the flyer with me, and she didn’t have one.)

First she called the employee who’d cut it for me to confirm it came on a roll; apparently this is the distinguishing feature of home decor fabric. The employee confirmed that it had.

Next she sent someone to read the sign posted at the Home Decor department. The cashier explained to me that it meant only home decor fabric in prints and solid colors.

I bristled a little. Wasn’t this white fabric a solid? Yes. Wasn't its use home decor? Yes, but it's not ringing up as one. I tried to be pleasant as I insisted that was regrettable but not my problem. In the end, with a few mistakes she’d have let go but I would not, she was able to calculate what my fabric would have cost at 50% off, and what 30% off that would be, and charged me that amount after scanning my coupon.

By the end of the transaction, which took somewhere between ten and fifteen minutes during which the line grew longer still, we were both frustrated and relieved.

At home, I double checked the flyer:

50% Off
54” Home Decor Prints
Solids & Upholstery
And Square By Design
Excludes Red Tag

My fabric was not red tag. It is 54” wide.

In the end, although I did get the fabric at the price advertised, the store’s failure to correctly recognize an item by the classification it belonged to caused a good deal of resentment on the part of both the cashier and customer. Surely shoppers less willing to insist, or not watching the percent off on the sales slip, are overcharged routinely.

People piss and moan about real stores closing, about shoppers abandoning stores to buy online, but when the experience of going to a real store is this bad, it's little wonder people choose to shop somewhere else.

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