You're assuming that ecommerce is universally a better experience than brick-and-mortar. Given the abysmal reliability of Amazon listings these days, I'm not ready to agree.
Yeah, people do like to see physical items and browse around. And once you are there, for a lot of people, a modest market is worth not having to wait and do extra work later.
Hence the 25 dollar Best Buy USB cables; "Ah Crap.. Do I drive to Walmart?... Nah"
Edit: But actually yes. I was pretty peeved about the cost of a basic A/B USB cable there.
With the exceptions listed, it is isn't it? When was the last time you could by (say) computer hardware cheaper in a store than on amazon? You must have some fantastic local stores compared to me :(
SD cards. You buy those on Amazon and there's a not-so-small chance you're going to get a counterfeit item instead of the genuine thing. The odds that Best Buy are stocking their shelves with fake SD cards are much lower.
It's not just about price. Sometimes you want a reasonable assurance that what you're buying is the real deal. Amazon continues to get worse in that department.
Brick and mortar is also still faster. Not everyone or every item can be delivered on the same day, but going to a store can get me that item now instead of tomorrow or 2 days from now. Usually I'm not in that much of a hurry, but sometimes I am.
But enough about computers. I think the products that keep Best Buy in business are the vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines, and other large big-ticket items that people would rather not select from pictures on their phone, let alone ship.
