Toy Shopping: The #Nerd Purchasing Experience

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Rishegee

Yesterday, I went toy shopping.

We all remember what it was like to be a kid and enter a toy store (in my case, it was probably more likely to be a candy store) and want just about everything in sight. Instead of those joys dwindling over the years since we’ve grown up (in numbers, though perhaps not in action), they have instead evolved. So much so that there are now toy stores all over the world which have been cleverly disguised so that so-called grown ups such as ourselves can walk in and appear completely legitimate.

I refer, of course, to such Meccas as the Apple Store, where the sight of tens of adults playing games and stroking their shiny new toys in a religious frenzy causes tourists to stop in wonder, and other adults to sniff the air outside, breathe in deeply, walk in and ask for a glass of Kool Aid.

This also applies to any electronics or gadgetry store in the universe, where I was lucky to find myself yesterday on the hunt for a brand new toy – a Netbook.

I’m not a gadget girl myself – you might call me late majority if anything, as my first Macbook is only a year old, and I’ve only just acquired an iPhone – but despite my lack of knowledge and savvy, I still appreciate the shininess that is a new object and the opportunities it affords.

Being that the Fabulous Tour of the Universe™ is about to begin, I realized that baby Macbook is not going to come with me because Mama can’t keep her safe from the Italian pickpockets in the square. (I’m honestly not being racist towards Italians here – I’m just stereotyping. No honest, I love you all. Just don’t steal my bag.)

So I decided a new Netbook was in order, where I can spend minimal cash and utilise minimal shleppage for a dinky little toy that will allow me to type my posts for the upcoming travel blog – here’s the plug – http://mykindofscene.blogspot.com – email the family, and bedazzle you all with jealousy over the awesomeness of the Continent.

As a social media and marketing hoe, I found myself observing all of my own little patterns this week as I went about this purchase. For a change, I was that lady – the one that I talk about when I get all excited after reading a particularly juicy piece of marketing theory: the one who creates an ‘evoked set’ of products she wants to purchase, who does her research on her ‘high involvement’ purchase, who checks out reviews and product specs online, and asks all her nerdy tech friends what they suggest (for the record, no one got back to me on that one). I was amazed at how much better I’ve got at making these purchases since my first tech purchase, way back in 2005.

I was living in California at the time and iPods had only just burst onto the scene for my social set. (Maybe for the whole universe, I wouldn’t know. This was a particularly bubble-ish period of my life and all I knew was that my Discman wasn’t the only answer. Yes, I had a Discman.) I was sharing an irritating desktop with my two roommates and after acquiring some spare cash, decided a laptop was the order of the day. I spent two months talking, eating, sleeping and breathing laptops. Next, I had a tech nerd cousin of mine arise at 7am New York time (an ungodly hour in LA, so of course I slept through) to use the early morning cashback thingy to get my laptop.

She was huge and clunky and her technical specs would make any nerd blush, but she was mine, and I loved her with all my heart and soul.

Fast forward to 2010, and when I decided I wanted to buy a Netbook. That was Monday.

On Tuesday, I started casually googling. This could be akin to sitting at the bar and checking out the plethora of talent without making an approach.

On Wednesday, the lovely Loyalty Club for my most-frequented department store sent me an email informing me they were going to give me a benevolent ten percent of purchases for two days. I will liken this to the bartender saying free drinks as long as it means you keep the boys flocking in droves. That’s because I am letting this pickup story continue.

On Thursday, I called the electronic department of the store and asked them what models they had. The kind young gentleman at the store wrote me down the model numbers, I googled them for reviews, price compared with another site or two, and double checked with a friend via email. Four hours later, I drove to the store and completed the transaction.

My manhunting analogy needs to end there. Assessing the menfolk at the party will not compare to the simplicity of finding out height, weight, memory capacity, speed of retrieval, battery life and aesthetic factors online. Of course, if only men were so simple. Google their credentials, compare the prices, and ask one of your friends just to be sure. Simple, right?

I was amazed at myself – Little Miss Fickle, or perhaps we can use Pedantic – making a purchase within days. Marketing technical products has completely changed now thanks to our reliance on social media for selecting product category, brand, model and purchase outlet. I wouldn’t have thought to buy a Netbook if not for a twitter friend, I wouldn’t have considered Asus if not for seeing their ads online, and my selection of Myer to buy it was based purely on their email to loyalty club members. As for the model itself, the comprehensiveness of online reviews has reached heights that go far beyond asking a geeky friend.

Optional if you should post this (This also got me thinking – how much money do we spend on technology that we know is then going to become redundant, and if so, do we mind the fact that it’s essentially money down the toilet? Or are those few months that we had it worth the extra cost? Essentially, we are really leasing these appliances and should be factoring that into the equation. In March last year, I used a student deal to get $100 off an iTouch when I bought my Macbook at the same time. I used the iTouch sporadically over the year, and bought my iPhone in January, making the Touch completely irrelevant. It spend a few months in my handbag without being touched before I gave it to my sister. I spent $250 out of pocket for a product that I only used for 6 months. Was it worth it? Hell if I know.)

Talk toys with with @Rishegee on Twitter here.