Calling all Houstonians, have your shopping habits been significantly changed by Amazon? (Dallas: appointed, Home Depot)

[Zhang Fei]

The media seems to think we have now been conditioned to buy everything from milk powder to rebuilt transmissions from Amazon.

[haudi]

Yep. Most of the time I can buy from Amazon I will unless it's significantly more expensive. Sometimes you just gotta have it now though and that's what local stores are for.

[JBAinTexas]

I buy most things from Amazon, but I window-shop at malls/stores and would go on my phone and look to see if the prices are cheaper on Amazon. If I want something right now, I would get stuff from stores.

[Texas Ag 93]

Yes. I would say about 40% of all our non food purchases (and many speciality or hard to find food items) are on Amazon.

I go to a mall maybe twice a year.

[Jack Lance]

I buy most things on the internet, but not necessarily from Amazon. I tend to start my shopping through Google then go from there. I buy a lot of household diy stuff directly from Home Depot, I buy a lot from Walmarts website and from other retailers directly.

[Zhang Fei]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

I buy most things on the internet, but not necessarily from Amazon. I tend to start my shopping through Google then go from there. I buy a lot of household diy stuff directly from Home Depot, I buy a lot from Walmarts website and from other retailers directly.

I resemble this comment. I buy a low single digit number of items from Amazon, whereas the vast majority of my online orders are either non-Amazon or ship-to-store. Walmart is generally more convenient than Amazon, because I go there for groceries, so I generally pick up other things along the way. It's also usually cheaper than Amazon, for the things I buy. Walmart's not the cheapest for my groceries, because they don't really do sales, but it is the most convenient.

[gwarnecke]

I'd say that most of my small-ticket electronics purchases are made via Amazon. Maybe I could find what I needed for $1-2 cheaper on eBay or elsewhere, but it's tough to beat two-day shipping and a company that highly values customer satisfaction.

For more-expensive items (ie TVs, stereo equipment, etc), I keep an eye on sites like Slickdeals and only buy when a great deal comes along for something I need - whether it be offered by Amazon or someone else.

I've bought almost no clothing or home furnishings on Amazon. My wife has been disappointed in nearly all of the clothing she's bought on Amazon, and has returned most of it. We do about half of our clothes shopping in malls, and the other half at discounters like TJMaxx and Nordstrom Rack.

Lastly - I've had generally poor experiences with ordering items online from Walmart. At least 2/3 of the time, either the order gets delayed, canceled, the item arrives damaged/defective, or the order pickup desk at the actual Walmart store has closed hours before the main store. They've got a LONG way to go to catch up with Amazon.

[astrohip]

I definitely think Amazon has changed the retail experience. We buy almost everything we can from Amazon. Not groceries (I *like* walking thru the grovery store), and only some of our clothes (I like to see them before buying). But everything else. If I need something, I go to Amazon, find it, research, read reviews, and buy it. Two days later... WhaBoom!

I would say I buy 90% of stuff (exc clothes/groc) from Amazon. Wife is at 98%.

It's. Just. Too. Convenient.

[IndyRC]

I typically like to put my grubby little mitts on things, so I don't shop online too often. I'll look at specs and reviews online to be more informed though. The things I do buy online are products that I cannot find in local stores, or have a great price.

I hate buying clothes online because they never fit. One exception is motorcycle gear, because it's hard to find around here to try on. That being said, I'll take trips to good stores for gear. Dallas and Denver have good stores I'll travel for. I will also buy motorcycle parts, or accessories from online, including eBay. I rebuilt a bike, after hitting a deer, using a lot of eBay purchases.

Groceries: I've looked to buy items in bulk online that we use a lot, but the prices are always too high. However, we are setup for auto dog food delivery at a good price.

Like Jack Lance, I typically start on the Yahoogle machine, and if it leads to Amazon as the best price, then I'll buy there. Also like Jack Lance, I'm a DIY person and will frequent hardware stores or auto parts stores.

Furthermore, I have a niece (mother of 4) that works at a grocery store. I think that in a small way, I help keep those people employed, as opposed to a faceless person online. Pseudo funny story: my niece said the "old" people won't use the self checkout. I said I don't use them because they only need to employ 1 or 2 people to run several registers. I prefer them, but don't use them much.

[Texascrude]

We buy the bulk of our non-clothes and non-groceries stuff on Amazon. Aside from the convenience and price, it's really the reviews and selection that push me there.

I type in what I'm looking for, look for the brand / model with 1,000+ reviews and 4.5 stars and I'm done. never been disappointed by what I bought that way.

The only exception is stuff I buy at Costco. We go there at least twice a month and I love it. Can't remember the last time I walked into a shopping mall