Just curious as one of the ideas I am working on with a group of people is using technology to encourage consumers to buy more from local businesses which are on a significant decline. Is this something that matters to you?
Depending on where you live, it can be a lot cheaper to buy locally. berries, for instance, in the NW are much cheaper from u-pick farms than at the store. We just picked 30 lbs blueberries a couple of weeks ago for $1.25/lb.
I buy whoever gives me the best service/product for the best price. Whether they are local or not is irrelevant.
If you're selling local, stress the external/hidden costs of buying international. Put a measured scale on shipping costs/milage for local/state/regional/national/international Also stress that unpredictability is more likely with local products. My main thing against local sellers is that they're cash only. Maybe they need to look into Square or some other e-bill solution. I don't know when Apple did it, but they're now registerless in all of their stores. Pretty nifty for the yupster crowd whom are more likely to spend up the butt for local trendy wares.
Well often times your local shops will sell items that simply aren't available in big chains. So it's harder to make the comparison.
Would you then prefer to shop at small stores owned and operated in your neighborhood ("mom & pop")? or someplace like Walmart/Target etc. Which do you perceive to have the best quality?
local... more %age of each dollar is put back into the local economy.. online is near zero but of course if a large chain or online has an unbeatable price then wtf am i supposed to do? what kind of goods are you talking about?
There was a recent story about tomatoes and how bland and nutritionless they have become. Apparently the spottier and non-uniform (in color) they are, the "better tasting" (in this case, less bland) it'll likely be. The story on the modern tomato is pretty interesting. Only an example on how mass produced food has its weaknesses in its drive to bring uniformity and convenience to the American table. Not that it's an entirely bad thing, but much different than "how things were" 50+ years ago.
who says, "damn, i just love walmart. the crowds of mouth breathers, "made in China" products, and sub par produce make for an outstanding shopping experience and if I could pay the same price at local establishment i would still shop there." you're asking for an obvious answer.
Walmart has advantages. Convenience. Price. Ability to return. Local has it's advantages. Usually higher quality. A more human buying experience. Better advice. Greater uniqueness in product. So no, I don't think the answer is obvious. I am trying to understand what drives most people outside the city of New York. What I think isn't important. Other examples: Starbucks vs. Local Cafe Local dinner vs. Denny's Mom & Pop hardware store vs. Home Depot
it comes down to affordability, if you can afford to pay for a better shopping experience/better product you would opt for that. if you're broke, you take your ass to walmart. i don't like walmart. i don't like multi-national corporations in general, but if you're on a budget they have you by the balls and there's not much you can do about it.
I try to buy local when I can for a variety of reasons. I find going to the farmers market a better variety of produce and meats with often better quality than shopping at a large chain grocery store. I think it is a good thing to keep my dollars in my local community while also reducing my energy usage.
I buy at Walmart. Don't really care much about the human buying experience if it's for basic stuff. If it's higher end I'd go to a mall or something.
As a DIYer, the first thing I thought of was hardware stores. I try to buy from the little local owned shop for small stuff, but they can be up to double on parts so if I'm buying a lot at once, I'll make a trip to Lowes (great customer service) or Home Depot if Lowes doesn't have what I need. In other words, there's a point where I can't afford to buy locally. I don't buy at Walmart if I can help it. The cost difference going to a 'higher end' grocery store isn't that big in the end, and it's far more pleasant.
It's pretty obvious isn't it? One's benefit is immediately measurable (time, money saved), the other is a lot less obvious. Plus vague things like 'uniqueness of product' is iffy, Take fruits for example, a tomato is a tomato, It's not suddenly going to be more 'unqiue' just cause its placed in a mum and pop store rather than at wal Mart.
