Response to Nathan Garrett’s “Circuit City has a relatively new service by which you can order an item via their Web site, and then pick it up at your local store. What advantages do you think this service provides? What disadvantages do you think this service provides?”
I do not assent to some words written by Garrett. I agree that the advantage of physical store is that people are able to touch the commodity and to feel you like it or not. Besides, you can compare similar products at physical store and ask sellers relating questions. However, how many commodities can be stored in a physical store such as Circuit City? What are potential risks and costs to store large amount of physical commodities? Indeed, today one can go to a physical store compare products, but the point is that how many products one is able to compare? Based on my experience, I need to go to many physical stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry’s, and so on to compare them. From my point of view, one evident advantage is that I can go to Circuit City to see whether I like it or not. Not only can I tough it, but also return it immediately if I do not like it. That is, I need not to pay shipping fee twice. One is for sending; another is for returning. Besides, I need not to wait for my refund or ask for a returning number.
Meanwhile, it is also free for one to pick up his or her thing at their convenience. In other words, one needs not to worry about losing UPS or FedEx’s delivery due to not being at home.
However, one obvious disadvantage is that consumers have limited choices if they do not have free time to go to a physical store. Maybe they need to work or to stay at school all the day so they need to wait until weekend or holiday to pick up their things. With this in mind, I would suggest that Circuit City is able to provide multiple choices for consumer to decide which method is better for them to receive their things.