Monday, November 4, 2013

Bucks County Oriental Rug Store Brandon Oriental Rugs - www.BrandonRugs.com - Beats Price from Internet Rug Seller By A Whole Lot Without Even Trying

     Recently, a customer came to our store looking for "a colorful geometric 6x9 rug". We happened to have in stock the rug pictured here: a Persian Zanjan. Our customer, delighted with the find, purchased the rug for $2,075 COMPLETE (tax, pad, & delivery INCLUDED.)
Brandon Oriental Rugs - Persian Zanjan Rug
Brandon Oriental Rugs - Persian Zanjan Rug 9-4 x 6-1 = @ $2,075 complete #65421
     A few days later, while engaged in testing our website, we noticed an advertisement (apparently seen everywhere for any search involving the term "rug") for ESALERUGS, which claims to be "America's #1 Rug Store". This piqued our curiosity. Because we pledge "the BEST value" to our customers "for any REAL handmade rug", we were curious to know if our pledge could stand up to the "beat any price" policy of Internet Rug Dealers and Outlets.
     An exhaustive search and review of the ESALERUGS site turned up just one rug of similar type and size (Persian Zanjan, nominal 6x9) to the rug our customer had already purchased.
6' 6 x 9' 7 Red Zanjan Persian Rugs
ERugSales - Persian Zanjan 6-6 X 9-7 @ $5,587 #110904586
     The price listed on the description page (as of 11/3/2013) was $5,587. There was an immediate promise of 50% OFF the price if you placed the rug in the shopping cart (i.e. $2,793). Going to the cart also merited offer of a free pad (and extra savings of 10% if other rugs were purchased at the same time). 
     (N.B.: Brandon Oriental Rugs offers 10% OFF ANY rug or service, in perpetuity, to any customer who has ever purchased a rug from us.)
     Putting aside the esthetic merits of the two rugs above (which we think favor the rug from Brandon Rugs based on color and detail), Brandon saved our customer $718 versus what he would have paid for a similar rug online. To repeat: Brandon's everyday QUALITY based price was over 25% better than the 50% OFF "SALE" price from "America's #1 Rug Store", ESALERUGS (the name on the top, bottom or sidebar of any internet search page with the term "rug").
     To conclude, our pledge to our customers of "best value" was vindicated in this case. 
     We think it is instructive too for rug shoppers everywhere. Internet stores offer very good deals for mass produced items. (Machine made rugs, and "hand tufted rugs" might possibly fall into that category.) Certainly, REAL hand-knotted rugs are NOT like that. The testimonies collectively that we've received from several customers who have tried the webstore option is that you will be better served (and will save a lot of time, effort, aggravation and money) by accessing a local rug dealer who will honestly work to help you find what you want while honoring the budget you establish.
     Think about it. The people helping you in your local rug store know they will be facing you over and over again in the places you live, work and play. They jealously guard their reputations so that they can forever look you in the eye and engage you cordially. That's a level of protection of your trust that no machine can be programmed to emulate.  

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