Back in the day, ie. late 1970's I found I could mail order camera gear from NYC for a 30% discount vs my local camera stores. So I would go into the stores and make a cash offer for gear somewhere between MSRP and NYC prices. Sometimes a deal was struck and sometimes I got kicked out of the store. Yes, a few grouchy store owners would be offended at an offer below their advertised price. I wondered even then how stores would stay in business if they cannot compete with the high volume mail order business.
For me the answer was service before and after the sale and product availability. A few decades ago I had no patience for stores (Cars, Stereos, appliances, etc) that carried little to no inventory but wanted MSRP. These same places had disingenuous sales people with little to no product knowledge who trashed any brand that was not in their store. Today I'm happy to see stores that have found a way to compete with mail order that offer great service, product knowledge and a reasonable if not surprisingly large inventory as well. One great audio store is in Atlanta and I will buy from them every chance I get regardless of the two hour drive. I typically have done my research and am either ready to buy or need to down select one more time before buying only to be "sales'd on or ignored". So I feel for those who have had that experience as well. And that goes for anything, not just audio gear.
Isn't there an old adage that a sales person has to visit 10 homes to make one sale? I'm sure that holds true for walk in customers as well.
For me the answer was service before and after the sale and product availability. A few decades ago I had no patience for stores (Cars, Stereos, appliances, etc) that carried little to no inventory but wanted MSRP. These same places had disingenuous sales people with little to no product knowledge who trashed any brand that was not in their store. Today I'm happy to see stores that have found a way to compete with mail order that offer great service, product knowledge and a reasonable if not surprisingly large inventory as well. One great audio store is in Atlanta and I will buy from them every chance I get regardless of the two hour drive. I typically have done my research and am either ready to buy or need to down select one more time before buying only to be "sales'd on or ignored". So I feel for those who have had that experience as well. And that goes for anything, not just audio gear.
Isn't there an old adage that a sales person has to visit 10 homes to make one sale? I'm sure that holds true for walk in customers as well.