"AVAILABLE FOR IN-STORE PICKUP ONLY" items

ChrisWithAQuestion

I'm shopping for two ASUS B450-I ROG Strix motherboards. Several of your stores have them in stock but can't be ordered online as they're marked "in store pickup only". Why is this? Along with the motherboards I'd probably order the CPU's, RAM, NVME's, and GPU's from your store. Don't you want my money? It's frustrating because these MB's are hard to find and Micro Center has several of them in stock.

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Welcome to the forum, Chris. I can certainly understand the frustration of specific items being available in-store only. There can be several different reasons as to why products are only available in-store, however the most common is stock limitations and promotional sales. You'll notice that we typically have the lowest pricing on CPU's and motherboards when compared to our competitors. Not only that, we also offer a lot of bundle promotions to offer further discounts when items are purchased as a bundle. To give everyone a fair chance at obtaining these products at such low prices, we limit the purchases to in-store only, and in situations where stock is far more limited, we may even impose a per-customer/household limitation. This helps prevent resellers from buying all of the available stock and preventing those that need the components from getting them at a reasonable price. It also allows customers to utilize our other services (speaking with our knowledgeable sales reps, utilizing our in-store build services, browsing our other selections, etc).

We are always open to any feedback on this, whether it be our online selection or even potential markets you'd like to see us expand to. If you have any additional questions, let us know. Enjoy your weekend, Chris!

ChrisWithAQuestion

Thanks for the quick reply. The only feedback that I have for is that you have a potential customer ready to buy parts for two PC builds and he can't from your store due to this restriction. No hard feelings if you don't change your policy, of course. Just be aware that if you need new customers you're leaving some web sales on the table.

TSTonyV

Hello Chris! Welcome to the Community. 

I do understand your frustration, especially if you're not in driving distance of a store. The primary reason is that we don't actually ship out of our stores directly, we have several distribution centers that handle our shipping orders and they do not stock the in-store only products. As for why they don't stock them, the simple answer is that Micro Center has made a decision as a company to have some parts and systems be for in-store pickup only. 

panpan1

I agree that you're leaving lots of sales on the table.  I'm in northern CA and the closest store is 400+ miles away.  Can't you accomplish the same thing by limiting the number of items to a customer to 1 when inventory is low.  

TSKevinG

Good afternoon @panpan1

Again i do apologize that the item is not able to be shipped  but if the item is marked as "in store only" then that means the Distributions centers that ship the items do not have any so there is not a way to send the item out.  Also we do not ship items directly from our stores.  

panpan1

That's too bad.  I too am building a system.  I need a CPU, MB, RAM and a graphics card.  Your Tustin store has everything I want but only the MB is "shippable".  Are there ever exceptions?

panpan1

Another thought: Why not open a store in NorCal?  Rents in SF and surrounding bay area are much cheaper these days.  

JonnyLawdog

I'm stuck in the same boat on this. I used to live in Cincinnati for 8 years. Moved to Louisville, KY. The laptop I have my sights on says in store only. Your policy therefore gives an unfair advantage to those that live locally. I prefer not to drive almost 4 hours round trip to pick up a laptop so I will have to order online from someone else who can provide the product. Used to love Microcenter and frequently browsed the shelves almost every Saturday when I lived there. So frustrated. Was contacted by support today when I rated my survey low from trying to buy the product and basically got a "we won't change our policy...have a nice day". Also I am not a reseller! It's the one computer I got excited about this year after all the reviews. And as to the comments of a reply from Microcenter above "It also allows customers to utilize our other services (speaking with our knowledgeable sales reps, utilizing our in-store build services, browsing our other selections, etc). " I'm one of those that knows my tech and rarely want to talk to the sales reps and more than a few times in my history with Microcenter I know more than they did. I'm technically savvy, I know what I want, I find it online and then I purchase. I just don't have the time in my work schedule to drive 4 hours round trip to purchase a laptop. Please make your products available to all, not just those in the local area. This is 2023. Additionally, the Asus website for this laptop lists Micro Center as a "where to buy for this item". I will have to let them know they should put a disclaimer that you can only buy there if you live local or are willing to drive a distance to get it. Based on this I will not look to Microcenter anymore for my tech needs. I'm sure they won't lose any sleep over my lost sale.