Why Online Smoke Shops are Better
Deciding to buy anything for your herbs, oils, or vape juice is the first step you take before buying accessories for it. Thinking about where to buy it is the next step. This is most important because where you purchase your supplies from matters. Whether it's price, quality, customer service, or anything else, it all comes down to where you buy. Whether your searching for RAW papers, an automatic blunt roller, or looking for the best rolling paper.
Some people are frequent visitors to local smoke shops. They continue going back to the same store because they are used to it already. However, most people are shopping online because it is more convenient since the start of the pandemic.
Just on Black Friday in 2020, sales were at a record high of over $6.2 Billion. Cyber Monday in 2020 had $8 Billion in sales. Every year we're seeing a higher and higher record amount of sales for smoke shops.
Online Head Shops
Buying from the internet has a ton of advantages versus going into a brick-and-mortar store. An Online headshop is ideal for people who know exactly what they want.
Pricing
One of the biggest reasons people shop online for their smoking accessories is because stores on the web have much better prices and showcase more items that are not seen in store. Also, prices are better because there is more volume being sold in eCommerce stores. The reason for this is because more people are visiting a website than going into a store. What you may see at a store in the next city over might not have what the closest store has, this can be an inconvenience hence why online shopping is top tier.
Since online stores don't generally pay rent, they can also drop their prices lower than local stores since they don't have to meet a higher profit volume. On top of this, you can generally find coupons online for any store. If not, you can even e-mail the webmaster. Sales are encouraged so even if you use a coupon, it's acceptable. After all, the company created the coupon to be used.
Convenience
Having your store online is one of the most convenient ways you can deliver your services to your customers. Anywhere you go, you're an arms-length reach from the world wide web. You're likely reading this from a mobile phone. With the way, Google is punishing websites that are not mobile-friendly, purchasing online is just as easy as buying from your computer.
Quality Assurance
An online head shop is generally reviewing products more often than a local store. Since eCommerce has more traffic, they're generally asked more questions about specific products. To answer as best as possible, most of the inventory is tested beforehand.
Online businesses also write a lot of reviews because it helps people make a decision. The more you can encourage and make it easier for your potential customers.
More Inventory
Ecommerce stores are very unique in that they don't need to hold the product to sell it. Whether you're drop shipping vapes or you want to buy wholesale dispensary supplies, online stores are like catalogs. They have a plethora of options you can check them out all on one page.
Drop shipping is the act of selling a product and having another company ship it out for you. There's a chance that when you purchase a product, that specific website doesn't even carry it. They just have it shipped out from the manufacturer or distributor. This works in everyone's favor. The customer gets what they wanted, the manufacturer sells a product and so does the online smoke shop you bought it from.
Better Service
Word of mouth is one of the biggest factors in deciding on a purchase or not. Before most people make a purchase online, they check for reviews or testimonials. Online, it's not hard to find a bad review. There is so much social proof that you can pick up on from social media to review sites.
If multiple people are complaining about the services of a website like shipping being too slow or not delivering products, go to the next one. Unfortunately, it's hard to do that with local head shops. Not only do many people not go to smoke shops for its stigma but they also don't want to talk about it.
Anonymity
One of the reasons people don't like to go to smoke shops is because there is no anonymity. If your local head shop is in the middle of a shopping center, there will be a lot of people seeing you go in and come out with a water pipe or something. If you're trying to avoid that, buying your smoking accessories online is the best way. Packages are generally sent with discreet shipping.
Shipping Protection
If you ever thought about getting ripped off from buying online, well don't. Buying online gives the buyer so much protection. Not only are you protected from the shipping company but you're also protected by your credit card. If an order doesn't get delivered properly, you can reach out to the online headshop and have them ship out a new one while they file a request for a lost package.
Credit cards protect you by not doing a chargeback for items you do not receive. This means they will take the money back from the store they bought it from until they fix the issue in a specific amount of days.
In conclusion, when it comes to which is better it all comes down to preference but if you survived the pandemic then you know that online shopping is where it's at.