People love to root for the underdog. This can be clearly seen in sports, where people will always root for the team who has less chances of winning. They will always root for David, and not for Goliath, so to speak. It seems that this trend happens in the online world as well, as more and more people are willing to buy things from the smaller websites, than from the larger corporations.
The situation is similar to real life, where many people prefer to buy from the smaller shops than from the large stores such as Wal-Mart. The reason? Compassion, in many of the cases. People want to help other people, so instead of buying from the larger place, which usually has lower prices, they buy from the mom-and-pop stores, in order to do well.
Small Websites Gain The Sympathy Of The People (Source: farm8.staticflickr.com)
Harold Pollack is one of those people. He usually spent around $1,000 on websites such as Amazon, but in the more recent period of time, he buys from smaller online retailers. The reason for the change is the fact that he wants to help the people who run those small websites. The prices there are higher, but even so, he is willing to spend more money, than to pay the larger websites.
What many people noticed, is the fact that the big online stores such as Amazon, are acting in the same way the big regular stores usually act: they eliminate the small competition, by offering free shipping, discounted prices, various applications, and so on.
The big websites had an increase in profit of 19 percent this holiday season, whereas the small websites had an increase of 7 percent. The small websites have some features as well: they offer certain freebies which the large stores cannot offer, they prevent price comparison, and they find ways of gaining the sympathy of the users. These small websites want to be compared to the regular mom-and-pop shops, which are in the danger of being eliminated because of the large corporations.
Small Websites Gain The Sympathy Of The People (Source: mattwargo.files.wordpress.com)
Michael Walden, a professor who studies regional economics at North Carolina State University stated that people are willing to support the small stores, even in the online world. In case they find one of these stores, they will do anything to help them, even if that means paying extra money for a product. It seems that many people consider this the right and the loyal thing to do, and that they are willing to do it regardless of the financial losses.
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