Death of a Salesman?

My wife found a pair of these shoes at a local boutique. She was ready to buy, but they didn't have the color she wanted (yellow, as shown).

Now that she knew she liked the style and the comfort of the shoe, she was able to get online that afternoon, order the shoes from Zappos.com, and they were delivered overnight. And it cost a few dollars less than at the boutique because she was not charged local sales tax.

She may have asked the boutique to order the shoes for her through their distributor, but I bet they would not have been delivered overnight. The salesman would have had to make an effort to say "Oh, if you want a pair of the yellow, I can have them here by Friday." But that effort was not made.

Sounds good for Zappos, bad for salesmen and local independent retailers.

PS. Here's my affiliate link to Zappos. Shop away!