I think that buying online is more convenient, but at the same time I find annoying that some of the products I buy are not available. For example, I was trying to make my shopping on Target, I got to the Ajax dishwasher that I wanted and it said it was available in-store only. So what's the reason for this, to scare clients away?
Sometimes it might have to do with the laws in certain states, I live in California and banning things here is rampant. My county banned the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam this last year. It may cost extra to ship cleansers too since they have the potential to break and spill in the mail so it just isn't cost effective. Amazon Pantry might be the better way to go. You can getLog In on Amazon and if you do a lot of shopping online it might be beneficial to sign up for Amazon Prime and get free two day shipping. I also just heard on the news today that Amazon is going to start offering free shipping on small and light items that are under $10 so it's a win all around I think. I get all of my diapers, wipes, and most household essentials from there with Prime free 2 day shipping.
So I've never considered that, but in the case of dish washer detergents, do you really thing it's a legal matter? I thought it would be something stock related, but many times a couple of products will determine if I shop online or not, as those products are the ones I really want.
It could also be a ploy to get people to actually go into the stores, if everyone could get everything they need online with free shipping, stores would lose out on impulse buys big time I know that's all I do when I go into Target haha
Maybe, but if they manage to get people online they reduce their costs a lot on people and stores, so I do feel it's on their best interest to have the complete online stores or else they are not gaining clients in that area.
I don't think they want to scare their customers away. There could be many reasons why they don't sell some items online. Maybe they want you in the store so one of their employees can try to get you to buy a more expensive dishwasher? Just speculating but scaring customers away never is the reason why some items must be bought at the store.
It may be because some of their products are limited so they have to choose whether or not to list it as available at their online store because if they list it as available online and their physical store suddenly sells a lot they would have to do a lot of explaining to online customers. They may just be building up their online system as of now and probably in a few years their roster will get bigger and bigger.
I think that goods ordered online often come from a separate warehouse to where the goods you find instore are kept. This means that it might be logistically impossible to offer all instore items on the website too.
This used to happen to us when we shopped online with our favourite UK stores, Waitrose and Sainsburys. I also initially thought it might be a ploy to get us into the store, so as to get us to buy more. But I once asked the question, and like missbishi says, the shopping doesn't come out of the stores. They do it from a different location, like a warehouse type place designed specifically for online shopping. The warehouse doesn't always have all the stuff you find instore, sadly. That's the down side of shopping online, as opposed to going in.
Fulfillment centers usually handle online shopping orders and so some items won't be available online. That's the case with many companies as sometimes it maybe a line that is to be discontinued as well. I do think people have unrealistic expectations too, as the website can only list items some do go out of stock during the ordering process too. I watched Undercover Boss where they process online orders and the amount of people it has to go through before it gets shipped can be numerous and out of stocks do happen. As for dishwasher detergent it maybe a chemical issue as Lysol and Clorox have the same thing, instore only.
lol, of course they don't want to scare the customers away, that was just a way of speaking, but in fact that is what happens. If I plan on buying online and I don't find my products I simply go back to the physical store.
