It should not be surprising that aBlogtoWatch not only favors being able to purchase watches online, but is attempting to actively be part of the force that helps the traditional watch industry transition to more modern ways of doing business – many of which involve internet shopping. Part of the context of this conversation is the fact that traditional watch retailers are mostly suffering in terms of perceived low consumer demand, but at the same time, the data seems to indicate that we are experiencing a time when demand for watches is higher than it has been in the last 30 years. So what’s the deal?

The often unspoken reality of 2016 is that people are buying mostly gray-market and pre-owned watches, and they are doing so mostly via internet means. Of course, there are people buying new watches in traditional brick and mortar stores, but few of them are paying retail prices. Simple capitalism mixed with a globalized economy has laid utter ruin to the traditional watch industry’s core way of doing business that tends to be about selling wholesale directly to a retailer or using various distributors. I’ve been talking about this since 2010 when I first asked if there is a “doomsday coming for third party watch retailers.” That is all happening now.

Thick margins designed to pad the actually difficult task of traditional watch stores have made it possible for a massive discount economy to take place just outside the walls of the narrow system of “authorized dealer” sales. Many if not all people reading this who have purchased a watch in the last five years have likely either used a gray market dealer or negotiated a discount. The old way of doing business can’t exist anymore.

Please do not feel that I am somehow talking down to consumers for their buying preferences. The consumer is not to be blamed for seeking the most efficient (economical) solution to getting the item that they want. This is basic consumer behavior and it would be odd if consumers did not follow the path of least resistance. What is a problem, however, is how consumer behavior clashes with the expectations of the watch industry itself. Things need to change, things will change, and I think the consumer should have a voice in how the industry adapts. This “ask the audience question” seeks to understand how your online buying preferences meet those of fellow watch buyers.

The point of this article isn’t to talk about the background of the watch industry’s current tough situation more, but I say all this to explain why we are asking the question about how you as consumers prefer to shop for watches. It will be interesting not just for one another, but also for the industry itself to see how the timepiece buying community self-reports on how they prefer to buy watches in this day and age. Also, in the comments below please feel free to clarify, or offer your own suggestions on how the traditional watch industry can best adapt to the fact that consumers want quick, efficient, and easy ways to buy watches.

Last, if the conversation gets interesting, then we can proceed to also talk about people’s retail store shopping preferences in a different article.