I have worked in various sales related roles for a number of years. Anyone bar a fly-by-nighter knows that a long-term sales solution works best. One role I had involved monitoring what was happening with the opposition and making sure if they were doing something new that was beneficial to them that we'd be using the same tactic but better. I also knew that at first glance we were to appear user-friendly as people will quickly move to the competition if they see something that is an obstacle.
Define "best", and "beneficial". Then answer me this: Best for who or what, beneficial to who, and how?
If you're still bringing it back to money, you missed my point, if you're not, then this is the same thing I said - surely you recognise that?
"a long-term sales solution works best" can very easily involve excluding a portion of the market - any business that knows what they are doing knows that they have a target customer, and tailors their business model around that customer, knowing that there will be some customers that are lost through those actions or strategies. Money itself is an obstacle for a significant portion of people all over the world, "designer" brands don't give a hoot.
I don't allow pick-up, I don't accept bank deposit, I won't post to parcel lockers or parcel collect addresses, I won't post to Nigeria (lol), I won't stock every product any random customer asks about, and I won't lie about my products or intentionally mislead people about their properties, like so many others who sell similar items to me.
I neither know nor care how many sales I've "lost" due to the fact that I can't / won't cater to (or for) every customer need or expectation, that's impossible for every seller regardless of how money-hungry they are, anyway - I care about my ability to do my job, in a safe and efficient way that minimises problems for myself** and making a decent living in the process, and declining to do the above significantly contributes to my ability to acheive those goals.
So, as I said, businesses are run by individuals, who have different goals and preferences, which lead to businesses decisions that suit them and the way the find it easiest to operate, and it is almost always knowingly at the expense of a portion of the market.
** A note about this point in particular - the fewer problems I have to deal with, the more time and attention I can give to my customers. The more specialised and focused my service standards are, the more my business grows within my target customer base due to word of mouth. In other words, eliminating a percentage of sales that have a higher potential to drain my resources, including time, does not benefit me, my customers, or my bank account.
