> but I can't have access to that information before I enter the store?
Because why would they want you to have that information? They are making money on you not knowing where stuff is - they're hoping that you'll pick up additional items you didn't plan to buy as you wander around the shop looking for the things you need.
Ditto for "worse than useless" apps - they are not meant to help you, they are meant to take money from you.
So pg recently wrote again, that the best way to get money is to make something people want. But it's not true. Time and again, businesses from Comcast to Target, to Uber, to browser toolbar makers, to the guys that give away pendrives that secretly install as keyboard and open their website, to your random SaaS "we'll kill e-mail and your puppy" toilet-paper startup - all of them keep proving that the best practical way to make money is to lie, cheat and bully people into paying.
We need a really strong, aggressive pushback against dishonest business practices, and that includes pretty much the entire advertising industry. We're already drowning in manure, having to use stuff built for the reverse of stated purpose.
A lot of brick-and-mortar store chains do that in France, actually (Darty, FNAC, etc.).
They have an online store, and on each product page there is a field "stock in your preferred store". That's very handy; you can even order it online and pick it up in the store, so you don't have to pay or wait for delivery.
Several times I was planning to buy online, but since I found out on their site that their price is competitive and I can get it today, I ended up taking my car to a brick-and-mortar shop.
> Several times I was planning to buy online, but since I found out on their site that their price is competitive and I can get it today, I ended up taking my car to a brick-and-mortar shop.
This is strong competitive advantage of brick&mortar stores. I actually buy more locally than on-line for the sole reason that I'm impatient and when I need something, I need it ASAP, so I prefer to just go and buy it instead of waiting few days (same-day delivery is not common in Poland yet).
Because why would they want you to have that information? They are making money on you not knowing where stuff is - they're hoping that you'll pick up additional items you didn't plan to buy as you wander around the shop looking for the things you need.
Ditto for "worse than useless" apps - they are not meant to help you, they are meant to take money from you.
So pg recently wrote again, that the best way to get money is to make something people want. But it's not true. Time and again, businesses from Comcast to Target, to Uber, to browser toolbar makers, to the guys that give away pendrives that secretly install as keyboard and open their website, to your random SaaS "we'll kill e-mail and your puppy" toilet-paper startup - all of them keep proving that the best practical way to make money is to lie, cheat and bully people into paying.
We need a really strong, aggressive pushback against dishonest business practices, and that includes pretty much the entire advertising industry. We're already drowning in manure, having to use stuff built for the reverse of stated purpose.