The reason why the shop local movement is what it is is because those suggestions are impractical. Margins are small and online stores heavily undercut the ability to price up.
Never underestimate how ruthless many customers will be. They'll exploit any "value added" service to the point where it's a money loser for a business. Otherwise businesses would be bending over backwards offering "test drives" for that knife set you want to buy
Oh, I know, a couple times I've worked in retail it's shocking the volume or returns or attempted returns. But local retailers have to do something that onliners just can't, if they can not compete on initial sale price alone, so there is just a partial list I came up with. I mean, when I go to The Source for even the smallest item, at least the sales clerk tries to hit me up for the extended warranty - a face-to-face purchase that online retailers don't get the opportunity to upsell. So here we have a national chain, training their employees well, to compete with online (some of it their own). And look, Capital Iron will set up your new BBQ, deliver it to you, take away your old one. Great! Now I want to walk into Robinson's Sporting Goods, and when I buy pair of hiking boots, I want to be told that I can bring them back after 2 weeks, after my first hike, and for an extra $25 they will take them back, no questions asked, and apply my balance to a new pair.
Buy the pair for $225.
Go hiking, they are not right.
Come back, get a $200 credit on a new pair.
Same for tents if it's the wrong size (did not fit all 4 of us as we thought it might).
Or ask their customer where they are going with those new shoes? Some park near Cranbrook? Ah, cool, you know what, with those shoes we'll throw in this $10 GC from Cranbrook Outfitters, for any last minute goods you need when you get there!
That's the kind of stuff onliners just can't do.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>