Posted on 03/26/2013 10:12:41 AM PDT by rawhide
There's a store in Australia that really hates it when its customers walk around the store without buying anything.
Redditor BarrettFox posted a pic of a sign informing shoppers of a new fee at a specialty food store in Brisbane.
It's $5 for "just looking."
The fee exists to stop people from "showrooming" — which occurs when a customer looks at items in a physical store, then makes the purchase online.
The sign assures that you'll have the five dollars deducted from the final purchase price, so you'll get your money back if you buy something.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
More and more, I'm finding retail sales personnel very accommodating and polite. I figure it's another upside to Amazon.
I spent a lot of time a couple of weeks ago hitting every store of a chain for an item at a great sale price. One salesman finally showed me the regional inventory numbers to show which store really had an item vs. all the rest which were listed as 1 or 2 in stock, which meant either the display model or inventory miscount. Drove 40 miles to pick it up and was very happy.
No worries then, mate!
A lot of bricks and mortar stores are desperate; and on-line retailers like Amazon are free-riding on their show-rooming service. Whether or not a cover charge is a good idea, I can sympathize.
I enjoy looking around electronics and hardware/building supply stores on occasion. It’s like going to a trade show — except for the pushy sales clerks. If I could get some sort of “just looking” badge (or other identifier) in return for the cover charge — and then be left alone to wander about, I might think that was a good deal.
My strategy now, for being left alone to wander about, is to try to look like I really, really want a sales clerk to help me. That usually seems to keep them away; but not always.
I’d play this for them
We got a five dollar fine for whinin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hgDQqjKErA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
“This policy is line with many other clothing, shoe and electronic stores who are also facing the same issue”
My behind it is! I predict this policy won’t last six months before it is scrapped due to lower sales.
Macy's is making a nice profit by turning up the customer service. Look at some stock charts of major brick and mortar stores. They've done very well the past few years. The Internet doesn't seem to be hurting them at all.
Just curious how they plan to collect the $5 fee? Do you need to pay them before they let you enter the store?
They already get the click-through.
Haven't you seen the section that says "people who viewed this item also viewed..." or the emails from Amazon that say "You recently viewed... You might also like...?"
-PJ
All the more reason to “just look” at the stupid Store - then but it elsewhere - you just saved $5 if not more!
Hell - I would buy it elsewhere even if it WERE $5 more, or even more than $5 more. Just because I don’t want to be charged a fee for “just looking”.
“HOW DARE people be smart shoppers and compare prices!!!! I’ll put a stop to that by discouraging them (from eventually buying from me) via a $5 fee!”
Yes I agree.If I can’t walk in and look around then I would not be going into the store anymore period.
This is a very stupid business practice. I always say “I’m just looking” when visiting a brick-and-mortar store, but usually wind up buying something.
The day someone tells me I have to pay $5 to “just look” is the day I walk out, never to come back again.
I heard that the PAWN STARS guys in ‘Vegas charge $10 just to enter their shop. Anybody know for sure?
I don’t understand how they could possibly think this is a good idea. If a potential customer is unsure whether or not they will be making a purchase if they enter this store, they will not bother to walk inside, thereby saving themselves $ 5.00 they would have been charged “just for looking.”
That’s what I was thinking. This is a “specialty food store” but what if they don’t have the particular “specialty” food item I’m looking for? Will they not only refund my $5 but pay me another $5 for wasting my time? I have a fondness for loose tea and in particular lapsang souchong which is a smokey tea and very hard to find. I’ve gone to all the local tea and coffee shops and even to Wegmans and Whole Foods locally and outside from a little coffee and tea shop in Baltimore where I first found it, the only place I’ve ever found it is on Amazon.
They also state: “There has been high volume of people who use this store as a reference and then purchase goods elsewhere. These people are unaware our prices are almost the same as the other stores plus we have products simply not available anywhere else.”
First of all, how do they define “almost” the same price and I notice they don’t say their prices are the same or lower than other stores nor that they guarantee they will have the item that I am looking to purchase, the brand, size, etc. or guarantee they can get it for me. Not to mention, what if I’m new to the area or I’m just browsing because I’m trying to get ideas for Christmas or birthday gift purchases but may not what to make that purchase that particular day? It would seem to me that such a policy is poisoning the well of future purchasers.
My best friend and I love to go browsing in small main street specialty type independently owned shops. I like to support local small independent business and farm to table farmer’s markets when I can and it makes sense to. My friend and I can make a whole day of it, browse, get lunch, browse some more. The last time we did this was in Lititz PA. We didn’t buy something from every shop we went into, and we went into just about every one of them, but we did buy and my friend from Baltimore bought quite a few items from several stores and plus bought a bunch of things from the two Amish farmers’ markets we visited that day. But since I don’t work that far from Lititz, I made mental notes for the future like the specialty kitchen and food shop that I thought might be a good place to buy something in the future for my nephew in law who loves to cook or the specialty chocolate shop or the used book store, the shop that sold unusual bath soaps or the shop that sold old fashioned wooden toys, etc. I might not have bought something from all these stores we went into on that day but I might very well go back to at least one or more of them one day. But I wouldn’t go back if they charged me $5 for just for the “privilege” of looking or were otherwise snotty to me.
I do have an Amazon Prime account (free shipping on most items + video streaming and other perks) and I do make purchases from Amazon. For instance I bought all this year’s Christmas gifts for my 6, count them 6, little great nieces and bought an Amazon gift card for my teenage great nephew and my college age great niece. What I liked about purchasing from Amazon was I already knew what I wanted to get them, the little ones – An American Themed Christmas – books on American History for the preschool set¸ puzzle maps, music CD’s, etc. This was a result of the oldest of my “little” great nieces who is 5 years old and who has decided that she wants to be POTUS one day and is really into American history, the history of the Presidents and even asks her mother to sing patriotic songs at bedtime like the National Anthem and God Bless America rather than more traditional bedtime songs. (She’s a little conservative in the making BTW; she voted for Romney over Obama in her kindergarten mock election and I want to encourage that :) )
On Amazon I found a series of books, one series by Callista Gingrich and the other by Lynne Cheney on American history, some great Melissa and Doug puzzles – Map of America and World Map plus some science themed puzzles (the solar system, oceans and dinosaurs), and several CD’s of patriot songs sung by children. It was great that I could find all these items and order them all at one time from the comfort of my home (I could even preview listen to the music CD’s and flip through the pages of the books on line to make sure it was what I wanted; that the content was acceptable to me and my niece’s parents who are conservatives themselves). It would have taken me forever and a day to find all those items in brick and mortar stores, if I could have even found them at all. And the gift card was great for my great nephew – he’s 14 years old now and I have no idea what to get a 14 year old boy who is still a bit of a kid but not quite a kid anymore, and my college age great niece could use her gift card to order “used” books for college with her Amazon gift card – something she greatly appreciated.
I find I do a lot of research on line for big ticket items first and then sometimes end up going to a brick and mortar store if I’m concerned the item is too bulky for shipping (living in an apartment building, I’ve had issues with UPS and FedEx not wanting to leave packages at my door and having me pick them up from the rental office or making me pick it up from the local UPS or FedEx facility which is not always convenient if I can’t take the time off work) or if it is something I want when I really want it right away. And while I’ve bought some clothing and shoes on line, sometimes I find it’s nice to not only try it on first and also feel the fabric, something you can’t do from a picture.
I spent many months researching TV’s before I finally bought one. I searched Amazon and several other e-tailers and many websites for brick and mortar stores and I physically went to several brick and mortar stores: Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buys, HH Gregg, sometimes to the same stores several times and I read many online reviews before making my final decision and I ended up going to my local Best Buy to purchase my TV when they had the very one I wanted at a good sale price that I could pick up that very day without the hassle of having it shipped.
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