When considering home and office furniture, many foreigners and Chinese stick to what they know in IKEA. When it comes to purchasing home appliances, the options are many. Just look out your window and not too far away you may be able to spot not one or two but multiple home appliances superstores in your neighborhood.
From GOME (国美), Da Zhong (大中) and Suning (苏宁) to other store brands like Sundan (顺电), you can recognize the level of competition there is. There is so much fierce competition, you will many times see competitors located next to each other. In one case, the domestic competition is so fierce that years ago American electronics retail giant Best Buy shuttered its China stores and left the market completely. In addition to large chains, you can find a great selection by visiting smaller stores in giant home improvement supercenters or even by looking online.
No matter if you decide to make your purchases in store or online, you should always take a look at it in person if you plan on buying a large home appliance like a refrigerator or washing machine. These items are big and likely to become an elephant in the room if you don’t choose wisely. Just think, wouldn’t you regret your refrigerator knowing that you’ll access it multiple times every day? Take the guessing game out of your purchase and see it in person at a store to get a good idea if it’s a perfect fit for your place.
When it comes to smaller home appliances like kitchenware and electronics, you should take the opposite approach. Going to the store to buy these things is purely impulsive; at the store you may see the technical specifications, but you’re lacking vital information like customer reviews. Wouldn’t you want to know if that certain vacuum model or fan has a huge design flaw that will leave you regretful of making a poor purchase?
There are pros and cons for purchasing from brick-and-mortar stores or online. Most often, it’s definitely more convenient to purchase online, but home appliances are a different story. You may want to have your appliance installed at your home and online retailers can’t always guarantee any end-to-end services. Likewise, shipping costs can either work in your favor or end up costing you. Buying from a brick-and-mortar store in your neighborhood, you can likely get free delivery and even installation, an excellent value even if prices are a little higher than from online retailers.
Since there is so much competition in the home appliances retail sector, you can be sure to find prices stable and reasonable from competing retailers. Buying from a well-known chain store, you can rest assure that the store will provide after-sales service and help with warranty repairs. If you’re one who enjoys negotiating prices, consider visiting smaller retailers who have room for negotiations. You might get a deal if you buy multiple items. Finally, online retailers increase and decrease their prices on many items, so keep an eye out for sales.
