I Went to Jared - Why Brick and Mortar Loses to Amazon

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47. Sometimes online vendors will fill orders faster than local stores

You said, "If I know exactly what I am looking for and don't need it immediately, I will buy it online."

Recently my husband and/or I have tried to buy locally to support the local stores or outlets. Far too often the result is that they do not have the products or can't get them. If they can get them at all, it could take a month or more to get it in our hands. On the other hand, online vendors usually will have products in stock and they will arrive as quickly as the shippers can transport them. Online, it has taken as little as two days to arrive.

This week, my husband wanted to buy some gaming accessories - the local store he frequents had never even heard of them. He shopped on Amazon and Etsy, found what he wanted and ordered. All but one of the items he ordered are already here. The last item is a backup to make sure he will have enough when the gaming expansions he ordered from overseas arrive, so no big deal.

It's not just consumer goods. Just this week I needed to order seed to replant my pastures. The local feed & farm store doesn't usually carry the Bahia variety I wanted. They checked and can get it with a month's notice for about $320 a 40 pound bag. Same thing happened in January when I wanted a winter cover pasture rye - they just simply didn't have it. I found the rye at a seed company downstate, so I contacted them. They have an improved variety of the bahia listed at just under $280 a 40 pound bag with a 10% discount for volume and free shipping.

The bahia will get here a little sooner than I'd planned - the saleslady indicated that since it is a little early for planting the price is lower now than it will be once demand picks up. But this variety will germinate at lower temperatures than the other varieties, so we should be good. Now to call the guy that does our pasture work and have him move up bringing the seed drill to plant the seed!

By the way - the Etsy items and the seed order are from smaller vendors with an online presence, not from big companies. So we are supporting small business, just not ones local to us, as we generally prefer.