Critique of "Retail Sales Falling."

I have already posted this critique as a comment in the original article that can be found at:  http://kassensecon122.blogspot.com/2013/04/retail-sales-falling.html

Here is a copy of the critique.

     I think this article does a good job at relating the declining sales to increased taxes, and how that can lead to unhappiness, which in turn leads to people spending less on luxury items. Casey does an excellent job summarizing the main points of the article as well as analyzing the content. The article critique relates the article to our class discussions right away and defines many of the terms used in the article. I think Casey’s analysis is very good and does everything that can be done with the information given, my main critique is both the article and Casey not taking in how online sales effect the decline in the retail sales.
     The topic of failing retail sales is something I’m very familiar with. From 2006-2011 I worked for Best Buy and witnessed firsthand the steady decline of sales year to year. In the early years I worked Best Buy at Valley View Mall in Roanoke, VA did pretty well. We were never the top store in the company but sales were decent and one year (2007 or 2008) we made enough profit as a store to where even the part time employees such as me would receive a bonus each quarter. But online sales had steady been increasing, websites like Amazon and Newegg were the true competitors. From my experience, the appeal of online shopping has been the real killer for retail sales. This was evident when at one point we were price matching Amazon (And other various online stores) if customers requested it. This type of aggressive price matching only lasted a couple months because we ate so much profit doing it, it was actually more economic to let the business walk rather than discount the products to match online competitors. I can’t count how many times I would finish answering a customer’s questions about a camera, television, car speakers, etc. only to “ask for the sale” (Best Buy Lingo…) and receive the reply, “No, I think I’ll buy it on Amazon because it’s cheaper.” It’s hard to argue with that logic, and who can blame someone for trying to save money with how tight money is today.
     It’s pretty well known in the world of retail that a large portion of the people who come in to view a product, is basically just testing it out before they buy it online. Best Buy and most brick and mortar electronic retail stores are rapidly turning into a test drive center for online sellers and it probably won’t be long before giant stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, and hhgregg are all but a memory. Perhaps insight like this is not going to be found in a textbook just yet, but online sales have completely changed the game for retail stores and unless they change their structure very rapidly and effectively, it may already be too late.