I like the fact that I can buy online at Walmart.com and pick up the items in store, but one thing I find irritating is that I can't see what is in stock at my local store, so I can select a product that is in stock and available for pick up that same day. Right now, I have two items in my shopping cart. One is only available at the store, not sold online, so I will have to go to the store to pick it up if I buy it, but the other item won't be available for store pick up on July 13th, although I can have it delivered by around July 1st. I'd actually like to use the items today, or at least over the weekend, but that isn't possible, unless I go to the store and pick out another somewhat comparable item, assuming I can find a similar one in the same price range and buy it in store, along with picking up the other item that I would have purchased online. The reason for buying the other item online is that it's the last one in stock.
I don't think I would bother shopping online if I wasn't having he items shipped to me. The cost of shipping verses the cost of gas are likely not much different, at least considering the distance I would have to go to go to Walmart. I think I would rather just go and see the items I an buying in person to make sure they are good quality.
Some stores have this set up better than others. For example Lowes will immediately show what products are available in which stores. Barnes and Noble makes it possible to work this out but only as a separate step. Walmart doesn't have a very good system either and sometimes when I went to pick it up, even after checking availability, it was not there and it was hard to even find a staff person to help. I guess the downside of Walmart's cheaper pricing is that you are kind of one your own when it comes to locating a product. A few weeks ago it took three staff members and a walk through 4 different sections to find a button battery. But, credit to them, they did find it for me. I think the trick is to ask to be referred to a staff member who works that section as they are the only ones who know what is really in stock and where it should be.
@DancingLady I was hoping to use Ebates to get some money back, which I could have done for the one item, but I didn't bother. I ended up going to the store, and the item that was supposed to be the last in stock was actually 1 of 3, so the count was off, but I'm glad I was able to get what I needed. @Penny I had to walk through 2 different sections to find the 1 item, and it would have been helpful if it had been in the section I needed it to be in, with the item I'd be buying and using it with, but you're right, there are often limitations that accompany low prices. Good idea to ask for a specific person who works in a particular section, they for sure would have more in depth knowledge of the stock.
I believe their walmart.com web site actually sells products via multiple third party vendors as well, not just Wal-Mart themselves - similar somewhat to how Amazon operates. That's why there are some products that are only available via their site. But it also becomes a hassle if you need to return or exchange something that is only sold via their site through one of these vendors. I've also had bad experiences shopping on their site too - I was trying to order some athletic shorts and t-shirts on there a few months ago, and they were out of stock on just about everything in my size. Out of like 30+ different listed shorts, almost all of them were out of stock in most sizes and colors and I could literally only find one or two pairs of shorts in my size, but they were ugly colors I wouldn't wear. Same thing happened with some dried goods food items I was looking for, Bob's Red Mill Masa Harina, out of stock on that too. It's rather odd a retailer like Wal-Mart would be out of stock on so much stuff. I have, though, ordered stuff from JC Penney and (I belive) Dillards in the past, and had them ship it to the store with no problem. Often times I would have difficulty finding my size on certain clothing items because they would typically only keep one or two on the racks of each style in that size - so it was just easier ordering them online. Plus it save me on the shipping, which was anywhere from $6-$8 in most cases. I'm regularly at the mall anyhow, so I wasn't going out of my way to pick them up when they arrived.
@ohiotom76 @Penny It seems some other stores do a much better job of keeping items in stock and keeping up with what's available, than Walmart.com does. I do love getting bargains, but if I have to spend a lot of time searching around, that cuts into my productivity, and costs money, so I hope they learn from the other retailers mentioned, and make some needed changes. You're right, Tom, they do list 3rd party items at the bottom, I believe, and I actually added a few things before, not realizing that the shipping was calculated separately, and it's usually pretty expensive, so I don't buy 3rd party products from their site.
Yes I see what you mean about it being set up annoyingly. I agree with another poster, though, in that for the most part I only shop online if I can have it shipped to me, otherwise what's the point really? That it's a bit faster in store experience? I'll pass.
That's Wal-Mart for you. For such a successful store they have a lot of goofy business practices. In my opinion at least. I don't really get the whole online purchasing of things that you can just run down to the store and get yourself. Why wait a couple of days for something you can have now? I only shop online for things that I know I can't find in store.
Many of the things on Walmart's website are only available on the website, so it's not really that goofy to have them delivered for free to the store for pickup. I've bought a lot of items that were exclusive to the Walmart website and not sold in the store.
