For the most part, brick and mortar stores can no longer compete against online retailers. In order to shop traditional retailers, one has to get dressed (some just wear their bed clothes but most people do put on clothes) drive to a store, look around and if one doesn't find what they are looking for, then on to the next store, or the next town in many cases. Often it is a return trip home empty handed because one could not find what one was looking for, found the price to high, or the quality lacking. Or one can sit at their computer, search for an item, compare prices among different competitors, place an order, and wait a day or two (at most three in most cases) and the item will be delivered to ones doorstep.
There are notably exceptions: when an item in known to be in stock locally at a good price, when one is unsure how an item looks, feels, or fits, when an item is needed now, when an item is perishable (and this is changing) , and as an excuse to get out of the house.
Shopping by not going to stores is not a new concept. Sears and Roebuck built a big business through catalogue sales. JC Penny did also. Big retailers often make fatal mistakes. WT Grant
closed down after their credit card fiasco. Montgomery Wards was well on their way out by the time I reached adulthood (I can't remember why). K-mart and Sears were both hurt by poor customer service. Roses was did in by not having adequate in stock conditions, especially of sale items.
I don't like Walmart. They have come to small town America and changed the face and character of the towns that they locate in. I'm leery of buying certain items there because they are only sold at Walmart. Often the items are good items are a good price but if something (or rather when) goes wrong, no one has the parts to fix the item. If it's broke it is no bargain.
Sears should have been the one to jump into online sale with both feet but they were too busy figuring out how to make their customers shopping experience a big hassle. No, retailers have waited on Amazon.com to get too large to be able to compete with them. Customers still need to be careful though. I love Amazon but not everything is a bargain. I recently ordered an item that locally sold for $110.00 and Amazon wanted $69.99 for for only $29.99. It was the exact same item, same mfg.. It was not one of those to good to be true buys.
No one can be the cheapest on everything. Not Walmart and not Amazon. And yes, there are people who will figure out how to rip you off. A company has to learn how to deal with them without making life harder for all the honest folks. I'm rather tired of the minority dictating to the most of us how we live and shop and think and feel.
If many of our traditional stores are to survive, they need to adapt their way of doing business.
For example, I'm in need of a new mower. Their is a dealer I pass often and I looked on line to see their selection and prices but they only show their bigger mowers. I know they sell lawn tractors
as well as zero turn but the lawn tractors are not featured on their website. How convenient for me if I could survey their entire selection , be able to compare quality and price, order the product and arrange delivery without actually driving to the store, writing down the model numbers and prices, then coming back home, doing the research, then driving back to the store to make my purchase. it would be doubly frustrating if I returned to the store and my selection was no longer available.
Companies, big and small, have to learn that in order to survive, they have to learn to do business the customers way and quit trying to force the customer to do business their way.
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