If your local game store DELIVERED, would you take advantage of it? [Archive]

digitalpress

03-09-2009, 10:57 AM

Hey folks!

Always looking to expand and add new features at the store and one of the things on my infinitely long list of things to try is a sort of "We Deliver!" option. Roughly, the idea is to allow people within a reasonable travel radius to call the store and have a game brought to them for an additional service charge. If the game/system/accessory is in stock we could bring it out that day. If it's something our local supplier has in stock, we could bring it out the next day.

I've already looked into those big custom car magnets and considered some pricing options (my initial thought was $5 + 50 cents/mile and limit to maybe a 10 mile radius for a $10 max charge). Working out the logistics of payment and having the exact right item in hand at delivery time. Haven't looked into insurance implications or really thought too deeply about scheduling yet.

First, I wanted to hear what you thought about this. Is this something you'd use, and if so, what would you consider a reasonable service charge?

Thanks as always for your input!

Porksta

03-09-2009, 11:03 AM

For $5, probably not although it depends on what I am buying. Am I buying a $1 Mario/Duck Hunt? Perhaps there should be a minimum order. I've never been to the store, do you sell arcade cabinets? Obviously $5 would be too low. Maybe a charge depending on what is delivered (game vs system).

Garry Silljo

03-09-2009, 11:20 AM

I wouldn't want to pay any extra, or tip. I would ignore the service and come in person.

tofu

03-09-2009, 11:21 AM

As a distributor I've dealt with deliveries on behalf of the customer before (dropshipping).

For e-commerce it makes perfect sense, but for a local retail store you're always better off having more foot traffic so you can show off your inventory. Offering a delivery service will do very little to increase your total customer base.

PapaStu

03-09-2009, 11:22 AM

I think that 'could' (big if could) work, only if one had access to an online catalog to order from. In my many years of buying i'd never once thought about calling my old indy shop to see if they had X game and then have them come to me and deliver it for a nominal fee. I was perfectly content if I called them (I normally just came in) that they put it on hold for me and I was in a little later that afternoon. They still got the sale, and I was still guaranteed my game.

Another thought (and this is only because i've migrated to accounting related work tasks and deal with expense reports daily) is that you're going to be at a wash on your mileage if you keep it at that price structure. You're only charging the customer to go out to you, so if I lived at the far edge of your travel range, you've gone 10 miles and now have to drive back those 10 miles to the store. Gas is at a more manageable price right now, but when we do any travel for work, we don't only give one way credit. When gas goes back up, you'll be eating it.

Will this be you doing the driving, or will it be one of the employees. If its an employee you might have to boost your insurance in case something happens to them (accident or a robbery) and how will they be paid for the mileage on their vehicle? Will you just give them the 50c a mile, or do they get a % of that? If they are getting the 50c, then all you're looking at for the store is the 5 bucks additional profit, on top of what you'd normally be making for the item.

I know that i'd be worried over a potential robbery/attack when idiots do that kind of stuff to pizza delivery drivers over a 12 buck pie, let alone you or an employee bringing over a 50 buck new release, or some older rare game.

Oobgarm

03-09-2009, 11:27 AM

I dunno. I think there are times I WOULD use such a service, if I'm feeling particularly lazy that day. Though, I do thoroughly enjoy browsing the selection at the store, but I understand that not everyone likes to go out and just browse. I think it would have a niche audience, and might be worth the while. Of course you'd encourage new customers to come in and get the 'DP Store Experience' before processing a delivery, I'd imagine.

I think that the $10 should be baseline standard up to a 10 mile radius from the store. Maybe even include some kind of discount with the store's card where if you do so many deliveries, you get one drop-off on the house or something. I'd take fuel costs and round-trip mileage into consideration before making a final call on price, though.

The reason I look at the $10 price is that the customer is paying for the convenience of having no travel involved, while still getting what they want. On the same day, even. I think that last part is really the key component in the fee, since it really would be a premium not available elsewhere. Plus, it helps keep from unnecessary calculations and keeps things relatively streamlined. You could add the upcharge to locations beyond that initial 10-mile radius. That's about what local couriers here in Cincinnati charge to drop off stuff for us when we use them.

I think one of the major things to look at is insurance, which could really be a dealbreaker. Plus waivers for the drivers who use their own vehicles so the store isn't reliable for subpar driving if an accident were to occur.

It's a promising idea, that's for sure!

Pezcore343

03-09-2009, 11:28 AM

As a somewhat regular customer to the DP store I probably wouldn't use it. Even if there's something specific I'm looking for I like to stop by and look around and see what's in stock. The thing I like about going to local stores is just browsing and I usually end up buying twice as much merchandise as I intended to. Just my opinion.

MrSparkle

03-09-2009, 12:06 PM

Hmm I kind of like browsing your stock personally, I can spend a decent amount of time in your store checking everything new out. Without adding an extensive stock list or online store I'd have a hard time deciding what I want. Also I'd point out the majority of your customers probably live outside of a 10 mile radius personally I'm about 50 miles or so from your store. In addition to this if i did live within a 10 mile radius that would be more incentive for me to go check the store more often, so much that you'd probably get sick of me. The price seems reasonable I'm just not sure that its a very practical idea from a business standpoint. I guess you have nothing to lose if the service isn't a smash hit you still might generate some additional sales and maybe make up a bit more on delivery charges than you spend reimbursing delivery people for gas. I think a better alternative might just be to start shipping games to customers. You save out on the costs associated with personal delivery like fuel, vehicle maintenance, those delivery magnets for the cars, and of course insurance to cover the delivery people.

*add* Also I'll agree with a comment above when browsing through the store i generally wind up buying things that i wasn't originally intending to. Also on the nature of delivery it's great for things that you have to do like eating. You have to eat but sometimes just don't feel like going out to buy food. Video games are completely different they're a durable good and not required to live (from a literal stand point at least). When i purchase games it's because i want them, if i cant be bothered to go out and buy some i probably don't have the incentive to order them delivery.

Cryomancer

03-09-2009, 12:34 PM

Honestly my only gripe with game stores is they aren't open later. Delivery I probably wouldn't really use, unless maybe you had some sort of 24 hour on-call delivery man, hah.

It is an interesting concept though. I suppose the plan is people will see the DP van or whatever moving around town dropping stuff off and that would generate more business? It might work. Could also be good for when big game #35453 launches, you'd be the only guy in town who could say "preorder madden and we'll BRING IT TO YOU"

SpyHunter

03-09-2009, 12:37 PM

I live close enough to the store that I probably would never use the service.

Wouldn't it just be easier to ship stuff out? Why worry about gas, insurance, weather conditions, accidents, traffic and vehicle breakdowns when its so much easier to throw a game in a padded envelope and let the Post Office or UPS worry about delivering it.

PingvinBlueJeans

03-09-2009, 12:43 PM

Why worry about gas, insurance, weather conditions, accidents, traffic and vehicle breakdowns...
Exactly. I suppose you don't have much to lose by offering a service like this, but there's really not much to gain either. I wonder if whatever gain exists is worth the risk involved.

All you need is one accident.

RCM

03-09-2009, 12:44 PM

If it were an extra dollar or two maybe, but not $5-$10. Plus, I like to actually browse too. And with the older titles, I'd rather have some hands-on time to ensure the condition and price are acceptable.

Maybe $5-$10 would be worth it if the games were delivered by chicks in bikinis?

eugenek

03-09-2009, 01:01 PM

And with the older titles, I'd rather have some hands-on time to ensure the condition and price are acceptable.

I feel the same way, I wouldn't be comfortable buying preowned games for my collection sight unseen.

Garry Silljo

03-09-2009, 01:59 PM

I know that i'd be worried over a potential robbery/attack when idiots do that kind of stuff to pizza delivery drivers over a 12 buck pie, let alone you or an employee bringing over a 50 buck new release, or some older rare game.

As a person who had 3 guys beat the shit out of him for $15 dollars in pizza and $17 cash, I should have thought of this very good point. It would be worse with games. With Pizza you can't flip the stolen merchandise along with the cash obtained.

Seriously... don't do this.

mnbren05

03-09-2009, 02:08 PM

I think it is a great idea, as I live too far away to ever realistically pop into the store. However the .50 a mile gets pretty pricey for customers living over x amount of miles. USPS flat rate boxes would be a nice option for customers further away or maybe a surcharge for the store that is fixed. I'd prefer to shop from a respectable game store like DP than the countless douche bags that run hole in the wall, third world style stores in this area.

evil_genius

03-09-2009, 02:26 PM

I wouldn't use it. But I could see people using it. Especially people who do not drive and especially during the winter months, even more specifically around the holidays. The price you decide to charge should be competitive with that of USPS shipping charges. If they live in your city you can ship it to them for a few dollars and they will have it the next day. Some people cannot wait a day, for big releases like a new Halo game or something. I see people taking advantage of that too. But in this scenario maybe it isn't worth your time, since you don't make a profit off of new game sales.

Basically I feel if they want the game bad enough to pay extra for a delivery service. They will probably find a way there to pick it up.

Sudo

03-09-2009, 06:46 PM

I'd use it if the fee was only $5 or so. I don't have a car, so when I go to my local Gamestop I have to pay $2 to take the bus there and back, so it'd only be $3 more overall.

scooterb23

03-09-2009, 07:17 PM

I already don't get out of the house enough...

If I had this kind of service available, I would probably use it, of course, my local store is a Gamestop next door to a Chinese restaurant...so I would start asking them to bring me the new Madden and some Chicken Chow Mein.

I think the safety concerns, plus (I'm assuming here) that having a fleet of delivery drivers has to cost something insurance wise, may be price prohibitive.

Kid Ice

03-09-2009, 07:36 PM

Why??

digitalpress

03-10-2009, 12:00 AM

Why??

"There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" - RFK

A few things to address from previous posts:

- This is totally meant for LAZY gamers. I understand that most people here are scavenger/hunter-types so it probably seems preposterous. But you all know that lazy bastard who wants to call from his couch and have Madden 2010 brought to him. And this service is specifically for THAT guy.

- There would never be cash involved unless it's from a known customer. The FIRST thing I thought about was the safety of my delivery person. The game would simply have to be pre-paid to justify a delivery.

- No 50-mile hikes! I thought I was being clear in the original post, but I think a 10-mile radius would cover enough ground. Exceptions, again, for known customers.

Thanks for the feedback so far! More is better, though :)

Pezcore343

03-10-2009, 12:17 AM

I think in terms of preorders this makes a lot of sense. It would definitely help win over customers from GameStop and give people an option who want their game on day one but perhaps don't have a chance to drop by the store during business hours. For new games that I had preordered I might use it now that I look at it that way.

Nirvana

03-10-2009, 12:32 AM

I'm not gonna lie; I wouldn't use the service. I just love browsing.

However, it'd be awesome for limited edition stuff, like a 360 Street Fighter IV Gamepad...

R.Sakai

03-10-2009, 12:49 AM

Back when I was doing the manager thing for Gamestop, we'd get a lot of people from an hour out of town, who wanted to preorder a game and get it as soon as possible. Problem was, mom and dad didn't want to drive all the way in, etc. So we started taking money and setting up generic preorder slips with whatever it took to get the thing mailed to em, and stapled those to their preorder slips. (Back on the old POS system). As soon as we got shipment and separated out the reserves, the ones to be mailed went right into the 'to be mailed', and usually made it out that day. Made people happy campers, and the ones we did that for, always turned out to be great repeat customers.

Now, let me give an example: I'm unemployed. My other car broke down, and I'm stuck at home with the kid. No buses available in this part of town really. Wife's at work with the other car. Street Fighter 4 came out, and I wanted my pre-order 'Right Now', and not have to wait for the wife to get home. I would have gladly paid another 10 bucks to have the game RIGHT NOW.

Honestly, pre-paid video games delivered to the fat drunk who wants the new madden now, the stoner who can't up off the couch and wants a new JRPG to zone out on, or the Halo monkey who just busted his headset and needs to talk strategy to his buddies online, sounds like free money :)

My downside is though, yeah, old games, no way, I'll drive the 30 minutes to the classic nerd store.
New games? I don't care where I buy em, bring me a game, I'll pay extra! :)

Gameguy

03-10-2009, 01:05 AM

I've offered to pay extra for delivery when buying games off craigslist, though I've only done so a few times when the games were extremely cheap and the seller was way too far away for me to get to(and I really wanted the games). I still had to travel to meet with them as they were pretty far away, it was just so they'd meet with me a bit closer so I could get to them.

I don't really feel there's a need for a store to deliver games if it's only close by, it's just easier to pick it up.

Diatribal Deity

03-10-2009, 01:17 AM

Kind of ties into alot of what's been said...if not possibly covered already...but if you have a big college or university within range this could be viable. One trip to the campus on a new release day for madden, ncaa, etc...and that litle surcharge would add up very nicely. Although navigating the dorms, security, and nevermind what you or your co-workers virgin eyes may see...guess again it really it comes down to the demographics of the area you are in.

MachineGex

03-10-2009, 11:44 AM

I think it would be worth it to try delivery. Some people dont have a car and take the bus or taxi. Those can be either very time consuming or expensive. Delivery would be appealing to those people.

Also Joe, if you havent ordered the car magnets, check out Vistaprint. They are extremely cheap:
http://www.vistaprint.com/car-magnets/car-door-magnets.aspx?xnav=top&GP=3%2f10%2f2009+11%3a41%3a11+AM&rd=2

titanzguard

03-10-2009, 12:28 PM

I totally agree with the above post about people without transportation. Also, I am not sure if this one has been pointed out but here goes... I have a 15 month old son. When he was a baby and I wanted to go shopping for games I always had to wait til my gf got home so she could watch him while I went out. Well if your a game addict like me, you want that game first thing in the morning so you can play it. I bet there are a lot of fathers(And mothers) of young children that might find it more convenient to have it delivered instead of taking the baby out. I dont know how popular it would be but I figured I would add my 2 cents to this topic.

Nesmaster

03-10-2009, 12:38 PM

I wouldn't use it, but as someone else mentioned it could be a grab on games that are big and about to come out. Preorder Madden '10 or BioShock 2 and have it without leaving your house to get it!

Misto

03-10-2009, 01:32 PM

I think it would be a little better off just having an online store/catalog type thing were people could order. That way you could reach other customers outside the range of the store and get more business. Although, you could do both, and if the customer was close enough, the store could deliver it instead of paying for shipping.

You could also have the reverse - in-store pickup. If you have a online catalog, and the customer was close enough to the store, they could order online to be sure the product they want is held until they pick it up.

MachineGex

03-10-2009, 06:08 PM

Hey Joe,
Are you considering mail order as well? I live a little too far away to have your staff deliver a game, but I really would like to order one of those atari controllers(starplex). I got one at CGE and love it. I have had a hard time finding another. I think taking credit cards and offering mail order is gonna help business a lot more than local delivery. You can reach more people. Just a tought and I would love to be the first.

I wonder how much a 1600 mile delivery charge would be to my house?

Kid Ice

03-10-2009, 06:22 PM

"There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" - RFK

The why not list is pretty long on this one Mr. Kennedy, but since you're asking for help I will say this....on occasion I find myself without a proper cable, controller, or other peripheral, and those are the rare instances where I think, "Man, I wish I didn't have to drive to the store just to get this stupid controller."

For games, however, I'm more than happy to leave the house and shop around. In that Madden 2010 scenario where I *know* I'm going to buy the game new I just get it from Amazon.

SegaAges

03-10-2009, 09:58 PM

If the games are paid for up front, no big deal if somebody tries to mug you. Just dump the game and go.

For pre orders, this is chalk full of win.

I have dealt with shitty pre order experiences in the past, and if you allow pre orders and deliver (extra $5 or whatever) it is probably a great deal. As for the up to $15 thing, I, personally, would not pay $15 to have a game shipped to me. Shit, I wouldn't pay $15 to have food shipped to me.

c0ldb33r

03-10-2009, 10:09 PM

I think for this to work, it'd be best if you had an online catalogue.

I'm in the camp that would never use it because I like to browse.

Bojay1997

03-10-2009, 10:28 PM

I think it could work, but I personally wouldn't use it and I suspect if you were charging $10 for ten miles (which really isn't a big delivery radius in my opinion), you might get a lot of resistance from potential customers. If it was a big game that I preordered, I might use the service for a midnight delivery, but I kinda think I wouldn't want to pay extra for delivery since gas costs next to nothing again and I actually like going shopping. Delivery services are fairly expensive to run with employee costs, vehicle insurance and maintenance, gas, potential theft, etc... and other than maybe getting some local news publicity, I don't know how much extra money you could actually make. While I applaud innovation, I think you would do much better to invest in an on-line store where you could massively increase sales to the rest of us who love the DP brand, but don't get to the east coast very often.

swlovinist

03-10-2009, 10:29 PM

The 1 2 P

03-11-2009, 02:38 AM

I'd have to say no. I'd never be too lazy to travel somewhere if it were just under 10 miles from my house. Furthermore, condition is everything when it comes to game buying. You may have the item I want but when you show up at my door, if it's in less than desirable condition I wouldn't buy it.

Sonicwolf

03-11-2009, 04:55 AM

Letiumtide

03-11-2009, 11:08 AM

No, probably not, unless I could sit on the phone with somebody there for like 40 minutes while they discuss with me what they currently have in stock. Then no, I'd rather come and take a peek at what's in store.

And even on new purchases I wouldn't really want to make that $60 game a $70 game if it's possible to avoid it. Nothing is really so important that I must have it that day for $10 more. There are always other alternatives.

While it's an interesting concept and something that really says that you're thinking about your customer base, it just doesn't seem like it would garner a lot of business. At least not enough for it to be worth your time in setting it up.

Unless you're selling large items like cabinets or something that you offer to deliver to a customer? Nah.

I will say this though, having your car with decals for the business is a good way to grab attention, make it really video game centric and you're sure to grab a few more customers.

MrSparkle

03-11-2009, 12:47 PM

come to think of it a 10 mile radius from your store could take some of your employees into not so friendly neighborhoods in Paterson. But it wouldn't really look great from a business standpoint to exclude certain neighborhoods within the radius.

c0ldb33r

03-11-2009, 12:54 PM

I think if you wanted to allow electronic purchases and ship games in the mail, I think that'd be a great idea.

jcalder8

03-11-2009, 01:10 PM

Personally I wouldn't use it but I'm sure there would be people out there who would. Whether or not there are enough of them within 10 miles of the store I don't know, since I've never been there.

I agree with the above posters that pre-orders is probably the best way to go. Also you could "test" the service with a big name(probably madden) title before jumping in head first. I don't know how many casual gamers you get in but they are probably the ones the service would be for.

Flack

03-11-2009, 09:04 PM

I feel like I'm joining the problem, but half the time when I walk into a game store I don't even know what I'm looking for. I'll wander around the store, poke around a little bit, look at boxes, and maybe (or maybe not) end up buying something. So that would be my first problem -- I wouldn't know what I wanted without looking at a catalog.

The only logistical problem I see is getting a million calls a week from people in their living room, asking whether you have "game x" or "game y".

Now if you really want a winning combo, how about delivering games AND a meal? I could see ordering a copy of Madden and a couple of tacos!

Cornelius

03-11-2009, 10:18 PM

I wouldn't use such a service. I'm just too damn cheap, plus I'm sitting on years worth of gaming I have yet to get to. But then, I'd hardly be your target customer for this service (as I'm guessing is the case with 99% of the people on these boards). I think the idea has merit, though. My biggest concern is the theft/possible injury of your employees, though I'm sure that's also the first consideration you'd address.

Now if you really want a winning combo, how about delivering games AND a meal? I could see ordering a copy of Madden and a couple of tacos!

This would have been a godsend a couple times in my life (replace madden with Metroid or something). Doesn't seem like it'd be too hard to swing by a place on the way, either. Unfortunately you wouldn't always get me or Flack that just want a couple tacos. You'd get some dude that wants 3 tacos, 1 w/ no cheese & extra hot sauce, 1 w/ beans instead of meat, and 1 w/ lettuce and cheese only. And he'd be pissed when a) you say no or b) it isn't exactly right.

calthaer

03-12-2009, 09:54 PM

The first thing I thought about when I looked at the question was: "Why would I pay extra to have Gamestop deliver their already-opened games to me when I could pay the same amount in shipping and get a brand-new game?" But we don't have cool game stores like Joe's around here.

You could also be sending employees to deliver parcels to dangerous places...like a town called Festeron that turns into an evil place called Witchville when the employee leaves the store with a Boot Patrol that chases them.

It's really difficult for me to imagine that someone would be this lazy. If anything, I would do this as a test, and then do some analytics on your customer file (your control group would be your customers at large; the test group would be those who used the service) to see if the customers who took advantage of this feature had a higher lifetime value (which combines retention rate + average order size, the latter of which I would imagine would be lower due to the lack of opportunities for cross / up-sell) than those who actually come into the store. And I hate to say it, but people who don't have a car may or may not be dropping as many greenbacks at the store - but, being near NYC, there could be significant numbers of peeps who see no need to own a car, so this may not be true.

Good analytics would hold the answers to these questions.

If they're not good customers (with a high lifetime value), your efforts would probably be best spent elsewhere to develop some sort of loyalty program that gives your customers a substantive incentive to place every single one of their gaming dollars into your hands. Some of this depends on what sort of data you have on this, too...if people pay with credit cards then you might have a bit more info to play with (including being able to see if they're repeat customers).

There are some good books on these subjects (will PM you the titles if you wish; won't waste the space here) and there is a lot of good information online about this, too - but Shelly Lazarus once said at a conference I went to: "If it doesn't produce real, measurable results, then it doesn't count." So make sure you can measure beforehand whether or not this is a profitable move long-term - or, I should say, if other, more profitable moves could be made with the resources you're spending on this.

Flack

03-12-2009, 10:04 PM

It's really difficult for me to imagine that someone would be this lazy.

Are you kidding? I just paid a neighborhood kid to type this for me.

vintagegamecrazy

03-12-2009, 10:08 PM

Joe, personally I'd never pay to have something delivered. Even if I wasnt a scavenger, I'd still want to go and visit the store just to get out of the house.

BHvrd

03-12-2009, 10:43 PM

I would not want games delievered in such a manner, I like videogame stores, I like browsing them, it's one of the few places I "fit in" I can actually walk in there and feel comfortable next to some dumb ass asking a million questions and get a good laugh in the process.

It's always fun to listen to a Gamestop employee discuss games, never a dull moment, a couple of head slaps maybe.

calthaer

03-13-2009, 12:19 AM

Are you kidding? I just paid a neighborhood kid to type this for me.

Listen, I didn't say that I didn't think it was possible or that I don't see it from time to time...it's just difficult for me to imagine it, not being the type that could even fathom not driving 10 miles to go to a store where there's entertainment to purchase.

nate1749

03-13-2009, 02:17 AM

This would work well in a city perhaps, I live in Chicago and going anywhere is a nightmare. Even if you have a car good luck finding parking and when you do you'll be welcomed with a $50 ticket for something when you come back. I do delivery for as much as possible (which is why I buy almost everything online), so I think it could work. However, if you're in a suburban area where it's not as condensed and most people have cars then it might be a waste of time.

Even if no one uses it adding this feature might get you a short article in a local newspaper/magazine or something like that.

Calthaer - live in a big city where 10 miles takes no less than 40 minutes (and rush hour it's 10 min/mile so 10 miles will take an hour forty to do), and then you'll think differently =)

Nate

sebastiankirchoff

03-13-2009, 02:28 AM

I personally wouldn't, since I like to look at the stuff before purchasing. Some people, like busy soccer moms or people who work multiple jobs and can't go to a store, might like it. In my opinion, you should have it as an option, but not a full on deal. Maybe have just one car reserved for delivering games and have a regular employee do the delivering instead of hiring another person for delivery.

GameDeals.ca

03-13-2009, 04:51 PM

As a fellow Video Game retailer, I think it's a bad idea. Not only is there all the wasted time, gas, and stress, but the vast majority of customers that would use the service are just lazy and would buy from you anyway even if they had to go to the store. The amount of new customers gained would be greatly offset by the bullshit entailed with the whole thing... but the most important reason is that is encourages people to NOT (physically) come to your store which is the exact opposite of what you want. If you get them in your store, they may not find the game they wanted, but they have money in their pocket and all the pretty boxes are calling out their name... if they order it for delivery and you don't have it, there is no opportunity to sell them anything else.

Also, the whole delivery thing pushes the games one step closer to "product" as opposed to games. Your store even more than mine cannot afford to turn the games we're all passionate about into just another product. Then we'd be no different than those franchise guys who've never played a NES, but sell them because mario games = money.

BIGMIKE

03-13-2009, 07:29 PM

yeah the order with shipping would be better plus it helps the economy... please use the post office...

nate1749

03-15-2009, 12:01 AM

Rather than delivery why not an online store? That way people who don't have the means of coming there could have stuff shipped, and if they're local you could offer local drop-off as a delivery option. Kind of getting done what you wanted and adding a whole new feature.

Plus if you make an ecommerce site your employees will always have work (adding more stuff to the website like screen shots and what not) rather than just sitting there watching the clock when things are slow.

Nate