In article , Scott Schuckert
wrote:

So, the actual price of the product is just one parameter of many when you
decide how "competitive" a retail vendor is.

Well, you certainly SEEMED to make it about price. When I had my
stores, I offered all the amenities I mentioned before, and like to
think I did a good job at them. I still lost customers to mail order,
over price differences of 10% or less.

you weren't offering what people wanted.

So I ask again, in two ways: On price, how close is close enough; on
services, what more do customers need to justify a price difference of,
say, 15% or 20%, my additional operating costs over the mail order
guys?

I already know the answer - customers won't pay for services. But
convince me...

some do, some don't.

in your case, not enough did or they didn't consider what you offered
to be all that useful to them.