The value of buying online...

A friend of mine likes to talk about the monetary value difference between buying online and buying from bricks & mortar stores at RRP.

Seriously, I have a friend that does this probably more so that I do!  Anyway.  He posted recently about online discounting v FLGS' for Games Workshop products and it went something along the lines of this -

The “myth” of the Online discounter for Games Workshop:

A box of Space Marine: Assault Squad - RRP from GW is £20.50.  One of the cheapest sets and the smallest box size.

Picking 3 Online Discounters, how much do you actually save?

4TK Gaming: Assault Marines @ 20% off - £16.40 + £2.60 Postage = £19.00
Saving £1.50 ! (That's only a 7.5% reduction!!) and 3 - 5 days for delivery

Wayland Games: Assault Marines @ 15% off - £17.02 + £2.75 Postage = £19.77
Saving 73p! (That's only a 3.5% reduction!!) and 3 - 5 days for delivery

Dark Sphere: Assault Marines @ 25% off !!! - £15.38 + £3.80 Postage = £19.18
Saving £1.32! (That's only a 6.4% reduction) and 3 - 5 days for delivery

So what does that mean then?

It means you can save money, albeit a relatively small amount when you factor in postage but is it really worth saving £1.50 when you have to wait 3-5 days to get what you want?

I suppose the economy of scale is when you buy in bulk online but then again if you're buying in bulk maybe it's worth having a conversation with the owner/manager of your FLGS as they might be able to do something.