Board index › Topical Discussion › Computers, Math, Science, and Technology

And high street stores wonder why the Internet is so popular

Page 1 of 1 [ 6 posts ] 

Previous topic | Next topic

Tequila
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,897
Location: Lancashire, UK

11 Feb 2008, 7:00 pm

I went into WHSmith today for a cake of CD-Rs to make some audio CDs. Simple and cheap enough you might say. I found some... at the price of £11.99 for 50. I elected not to buy them. When I got home I went onto the web and found pretty much the same product... at the price of £4.99.

The other day I needed some more memory for my digital camera. I went into the local Argos to order some. They were charging £49.99 - yup, £49.99! - for a 2Gb xD card. I burst out laughing and left. When I got home I found that a UK-based online store was doing the identical product at £16.99! Kerching!

So if the big stores wonder why we stop buying from them for computer stuff there's two reasons. Can anyone add more?



Stevopedia
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 2 Nov 2007
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 405
Location: Tigertown, South Carolina, United States

11 Feb 2008, 7:12 pm

Drug stores (like Walgreens and Rite Aid) are even worse. My local Walgreens wants $12.99 for a pack of two DVD+R DLs. You can buy a pack of fifteen for $19.99 on BestBuy's website (I dunno if the in-store price is the same). A quick search shows that you can find a fifty-disc spindle online for $50.

It seems that as quantity goes up, price per unit comes down (that's just economy of scale, though.) But if what you want is electronic, you can't beat online stores.

One drawback to buying online is that you have to pay shipping, though.



Fuzzy
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,223
Location: Alberta Canada

12 Feb 2008, 2:18 am

Try this: Local London Drugs store has a computer department. They want 100 bucks for 50 DVDs. Costco has the same package for 20 bucks!



Fogman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,986
Location: Frå Nord Dakota til Vermont

16 Feb 2008, 9:59 am

Tequila wrote:
I went into WHSmith today for a cake of CD-Rs to make some audio CDs. Simple and cheap enough you might say. I found some... at the price of £11.99 for 50. I elected not to buy them. When I got home I went onto the web and found pretty much the same product... at the price of £4.99.

The other day I needed some more memory for my digital camera. I went into the local Argos to order some. They were charging £49.99 - yup, £49.99! - for a 2Gb xD card. I burst out laughing and left. When I got home I found that a UK-based online store was doing the identical product at £16.99! Kerching!

So if the big stores wonder why we stop buying from them for computer stuff there's two reasons. Can anyone add more?


The reason why the internet stores are so cheap is because they don't have the overhead of having to rent retail space in a prome location, as well as having all to pay wages to all of the staff.

The internet stores can easily rent a garage and and or storage space in a less than prime location, and canget by with few employees who's job is to pull orders and place them in parcel boxes for shipment.


_________________
When There's No There to get to, I'm so There!


Tequila
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 28,897
Location: Lancashire, UK

16 Feb 2008, 8:12 pm

I bought some from Lidl in the end - 10 for £2.99. Not great but at least they had the CD cases to go with them. Next time I want any of that stuff I think I'll just go online and stop being such a Jesse. :)



gamefreak
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,119
Location: Citrus County, Florida

23 Feb 2008, 11:08 am

At Staples [The Store] you can get a pack of 100 CD-Rs for $24 and a free 256MB Flash Drive Included.