This past week our television in the bedroom went out. It was a standard tube (CRT) television that we used to watch the news, Letterman and Craig Ferguson. Nothing fancy, just a basic model for basic television viewing. So when it went out I thought “no problem, I’ll just get another one to replace it — $150, $175 tops!”
It turned out I was dead wrong.
For over 5 hours my dad and I drove around Columbia, MO looking at what the retailers had to offer. Best Buy, Sears, Office Depot, Staples, Target – you name it. Every store it was the same thing, “Oh, we don’t sell those anymore – nobody buys them – but we have this great LCD flat panel starting at only $500!”
I did not want to buy a $500 TV, I wanted a $150 no-frills television. The one you used to be able to buy everywhere.
We eventually just gave up. Apparently retailers no longer care about what we want to buy (I talked with others who were facing this same problem), but instead they are pushing what they want to sell. Right there is the disconnect – customers, especially in today’s world, don’t like being told what they are going to do. They are the ones who tell the retailer what they want.
I was ready to give up when I thought to myself – I’ll see if Amazon had any for sale. A few clicks later and I found not one, but 7 different models! In less than 10 minutes I made a choice, purchased it and it was on its way. What’s more it arrived the next day for only $3.99 (I subscribe to Amazon’s Prime program). They shipped a 50lb television via Fedex overnight and only charged me $3.99 – wow!
The total cost – with the $3.99 shipping – was $161.98. Right in the middle of my budgeted amount. Plus, I was able to avoid paying sales tax by buying online and the television can pick up the new digital signals and convert them to standard definition should I ever want to use this as an over-the-air TV. Not bad for $160 and change!
Amazon understood what their customers wanted and provided it. The local retailers, even the national chains, instead wanted to tell me what I was going to buy. They probably make a nice profit margin selling those LCD TV’s, but some genius forgot that not everyone wants (or can afford) a flat panel television. Some people just want a basic television. How many lost sales are they missing out on? What if just one retailer would buck the trend – how much increased business would they do?
It’s all about the customers – and businesses that fail to realize that aren’t going to survive. Not in this ever-connected world where if you don’t deliver what I want I can just click over to someone else who will.