Curiuos if anyone has ever tried to negotiate a lower price with a local retailer to match an online price? I know several traditional brick/mortar stores would match online prices for merchandise, but I’ve never heard of it for wine. I’d love it if I could convince K&L to price match a free-shipping WS low price. May have to try it one of these days and see what happens…
Curiuos if anyone has ever tried to negotiate a lower price with a local retailer to match an online price? I know several traditional brick/mortar stores would match online prices for merchandise, but I’ve never heard of it for wine.
Different states have different wholesalers and different wines available and the fact that something is available in say, New York, doesn’t mean that same wine will be available in Colorado at anywhere near the same price. Moreover, there’s also the volume discount some are able to take advantage of. So you may be asking someone to take a loss to match someone else’s pricing and if it were me, I wouldn’t do it. I’d suggest you buy it from out of state and pay the shipping costs.
I think I’d feel too weird trying to do that, to an employee of a retail store.
If I were buying in a private transaction with the owner, like on Commerce Corner, I could definitely see saying “look, I can buy this for the same price or cheaper at retail, if you want to go a little below that price, we can make a deal, and if not, that’s cool too and I can just buy it at retail.”
But it feels too cringe-y to go ask someone at a retail shop to do that.
Is that logical? I’m not sure, or that I could articulate why.
I’ve certainly noticed when something I’ve wanted has stuck around in inventory for a while (ie: months) at a price that was just above what I was willing to pay. A few times I’ve offered a price I would be comfortable at, sometimes offering to buy a few bottles, and that has been well received. Once or twice I’ve gotten a flat no, a few times it’s been accepted outright, and once they countered and told me they would do that price if I bought more. I wrangled up some friends and managed to hit their minimums. A win-win situation for all involved.
I don’t think I would do it right off the bat. If someone wants to buy it at full price, let them. Also, these were retailers I had bought from regularly, and obviously I only do this on a rare occasion when it really makes the difference between whether I would buy or not, not to improve an already decent deal.
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Some stores advertise the price matching policy on their website and I’ve used it a few times. Since it’s advertised in the open, the shops have always been very accomodating.
I’ve done it but only with the store owner or manager and only when I can get the same wine at another B&M store within a reasonable driving distance. I have also offered to buy at a lower than list price for other reasons as well such as off vintages, damage labels, and if I am willing to take all they have so they can get it out of their inventory. None of these I do often.
I used to buy wine from one local store where the negotiating with the owner was a normal part of the transaction. He would like to show me the new wines he recently got in and with prices already on them then tell me my price. Unlike above where I noted that I rarely offered another price, negotiation was almost always the case here. He was willing to drop below my special price but only if that’s what it took to make the sale.
I once asked a local hardware store if it could match the price on a large grill that was available at a large appliance store in a neighboring town. The manager told me that he could not because that price was below his cost and encouraged me to buy from his competitor. As others have said, this type of discrepancy in cost is likely to arise with wine, too.
Instead, I will occasionally ask people at a local wine shop if the case discount is available on smaller purchases of more expensive bottles. They typically say yes, or propose a more modest discount. Sometimes they say no. No hard feelings either way.
I do that with some of my known brokers, but never with a local store. Especially in the UK the market is very competitive and wholesale costs are pretty fixed. So if one guy has a 10% lower price, if you prefer dealing with a different guy, he’ll usually match the price to keep your business. But then sometimes they say no. Here in the US it’s just the wild west and every market is so different. It’s impossible to compare apples to apples with prices and markups.
Most local stores, cant match online stores. Generally I pay more to support local businesses. I don’t have a store currently that I am super loyal to, since my local store changed owners and the intentions of the store changed. I still try to support locally when I can though, but it is getting harder and harder.
If the price is a huge difference and you want to support the local store, I usually just let them know the situation (usually when there is already a good relationship). You give them a chance to get the sale. and sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t. As long as you are being courteous to their needs too, any reasonable local store will be grateful for the feedback even if they can’t make it work.
I also generally do not even try if it is something really scarce. If I know they have no problem selling it at their current price and they can’t replace the bottles, I try to let them make the profits.
I was just a Total Wine and inquired about a price match on a specific hard to find Tequila. They told me they would price match any store in the county with exception of one low ball retailer.
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TW may indeed have a price matching advertisement/policy, but the 3 times I’ve attempted it at my location, they have declined, with fairly limp excuses.
But they still love to have their ‘Don’t pay mo at Bev Mo’ signs up!
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not sure we can consider total wine local.
I only ask for a price match if a local competitor has it for a cheaper price. They are all dealing with the same distributors/wineries. Sometimes the answer is no because the wine is a closeout of an older vintage, highly allocated and will sell out at the asking price or a one time buy that they couldn’t take advantage of. I have never asked about matching an online price as for reasons stated above.
I did it at K&L once. If it’s available locally they will honor it.
I’d have no problem asking if it was one large dealer vs. another large dealer.
I would not ask it of any of the small specialty shops I buy from. It’s not reasonable to expect them to compete against the larger stores on price. The reason I go to them is for the consistently high level of service and the impeccable storage. That’s worth paying ~10% more or whatever.