I use to buy my natural products in a store called Celeiro, but recently I discovered an online store that for the same products charge way inferior prices. How can this be, how can they charge 12,50€ for a product sold in the physical store for 19€?? I felt being robbed when I discovered those prices!!
Online stores can afford to sell their products cheap because among other things, they may not have to pay for storage of the products. And you pay for the shipping. So they make a profit just by listing the product online. So if they can obtain a product from someone and have them ship it to you, why wouldn't they be cheaper than a brick and mortar store? By the way did the price quoted include the shipping fees?
What do you mean they don't have to pay for storage? They need to have the products or else they can't ship them to me I believe no? The price included shipping fees, these are free if you buy something over 20€, what was my case. A huge saving I did believe me, I am still stunned by these prices.
Online stores can be located in places where their property tax or rent is very low. They can perhaps have a warehouse and purchase their stock in large quantities, getting a significant discount for that at well. If the operating costs of the store are much lower than those of the physical store, they can pass that on to the customer and still make a profit. I almost always get my supplements online because of that. There are a lot of great discount websites which are totally worth it if you are buying several products at once, or several of a product because then you can save a lot on shipping as well.
Physical stores like the ones in the mall have a high rental fee, so of course they would need to get that money from raising the prices of their products. As for online stores, they don't have to pay for their store space and have lesser staff to pay, so they can afford to sell things at a low price. That's why I prefer to buy things online rather than offline.
Prices will always vary, both online and in store. Some stores buy in bulk and get discounts so they can sell it cheaper and some just want a bigger profit margin. That's why some stores price match if you can prove the same item for cheaper, but they don't lower the price. It means they can be competitive if the shopper is savvy. Stores can mark up as much as they like, which is why when they discount at sale time they can still make a profit and can offer vouchers and discount codes.
Sure, prices change a lot from store to store, but it's revolting that some stores can sell a product, a simple product for more 6€ or even more than other stores, they are making a lot of money at our expenses. We just need to browse well before buying something.
Well the price difference in this case is due to you paying for the shipping yourself, remember to factor that into the final price.... Also the website doesn't need to hire as many people to insure you get your product as they would if they had to keep it for days, keep the shop open, keep it clean, etc.
I am considering to take some time and write to the management of Celeiro for them to explain to me these price differences and inform them that they have lost a long term client because of this. I feel robbed!
whether shopping online or in stores the best thing to do is to check around, to find the best deals including shipping and handling. This will probably save you from the hassle and distress in having to try to correct a bad deal
