You Can Order It Online?

The power of eCommerce never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday, I drove to my local CVS pharmacy to exchange a propane tank for my grill. The CVS employee informed me they were out of propane tanks at the moment.

Instead of driving around looking for the next store that might sell propane tanks, I opened up the Ace Hardware app on my phone and found that my local Ace sold exchange propane tanks and had them in stock. I ordered an exchange tank and paid with Apple Pay.

The next morning I walked into my local Ace carrying my empty propane tank and informed the employee I was picking up a tank I ordered online.

A minute later, the store manager emerged from the store room carrying my replacement tank and said ‘I didn’t even know you could order it (an exchange propane tank) online. I learned something new today.’

Over the years of using eCommerce, I’ve been able to:

-Order a tandem kayak for home delivery from LL Bean while standing in an REI. I did not even know at the time LL Bean sold kayaks and the price was lower. Thanks Google.

-Schedule, pick up and return rental cars from Hertz without ever talking to someone at the rental counter.

-Sell my kids’ old clothes on Poshmark.

-Find local buyers on Facebook Marketplace for bikes my kids outgrew.

-Set up high speed internet at home by ordering the modem from Amazon and the service from Comcast.

-Send personalized holiday cards without ever using a stamp, printer or going to the Post Office.

eCommerce just continues to amaze me. Thank you to all the people who work everyday (product managers, designers and software engineers) to make it all possible and so effortless for the end user.