When we bought a dining room suite a couple of years ago, we started off by looking round our local specialist pine shop. We found one we liked but it was more than we wanted to pay. Checking it out online, we found it 15% cheaper. But we felt guilty about buying it online and doing our local shop out of a sale. So we went back to the shop and told the owner we'd seen the same furniture online much cheaper....
The guy realised he was in a tricky situation and rather than have us take our business elsewhere, virtually matched the price we'd unearthed online, even though it meant his profit was slashed. (He wasn't able to buy in bulk the way the other supplier could, so his wholesale price was higher.)
Just goes to show that, if you're lucky, you can still buy from local businesses AND take advantage of the keen prices of the internet age.
The guy realised he was in a tricky situation and rather than have us take our business elsewhere, virtually matched the price we'd unearthed online, even though it meant his profit was slashed. (He wasn't able to buy in bulk the way the other supplier could, so his wholesale price was higher.)
Just goes to show that, if you're lucky, you can still buy from local businesses AND take advantage of the keen prices of the internet age.
