Advantages of Purchasing Hardwood Flooring Online

Purchasing your hardwood flooring online provides several distinct advantages over buying from traditional retail stores. One of the major advantages of purchasing online is the inherent savings the consumer receives as a result of online retailers requiring much lower overhead costs. Operating a retail store requires many variable costs of operation, and those costs are inevitably passed on to the consumer. Online retailers carry much less overhead and, in turn, those savings are reflected in the reduced prices of their products compared to typical retail stores, providing you a product of equivalent quality without the additional cost of retail.  In addition to the lack of overhead associated with retail stores, when you shop online, most out-of-state purchases do not require the collection of state sales tax, providing even further savings that are passed on to the consumer.

When purchasing hardwood flooring online, shipments are delivered straight to your door by an LTL (less-than-truckload) truck. LTL carriers reduce shipping costs by combining individual shipments with others to fill up their trucks, thereby reducing handling costs as well as minimizing the risk of damage during transit. In addition, freight companies provide Maximum Carrier Liability coverage, which provides full protection of your shipment to ensure you receive undamaged product. An added advantage of shipping through LTL carriers is that, in most cases, customers can receive additional savings by unloading their hardwood flooring themselves.   

There are several steps that consumers can utilize to protect their purchase when choosing to buy from online hardwood flooring providers. Consumers can purchase hardwood flooring online either by using a credit card or PayPal, both of which provide additional protection services for the consumer. In addition, as a good rule of thumb regardless of where you purchase your hardwood flooring, always be sure to check the company’s business rating through the Better Business Bureau. 

Online retailers have become the preferred consumer choice for most types of products. In 2006, B2C (Business to Consumer) product sales totaled $146.4 billion dollars in the United States alone, and according to Forrester Research, an independent market research company, that number was expected to soar to over $279 billion by the year 2015. Furthermore, online purchasing has dramatically changed the distribution channels over standard retail operations. By purchasing your hardwood flooring online, your new wood floors are delivered from the mill to your door, bypassing the typical product markup of the distributor, again by the retailer, and sometimes the installer, that may markup your hardwood flooring again before it ever reaches your floor. As a result, purchasing your hardwood flooring from an online retailer simply has several cost-saving advantages that traditional retailers cannot compete with.