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Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

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Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#11

Post by dazc »

rsynnott wrote: post #4

Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually? (Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes after).

You can also order online at Argos and pick up although the one time I tried that it worked out slower than ordering in-store. Argos has never done so well as they could do, in my opinion. Not sure Sainsbury's are going to be the ideal solution to this either?

Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#12

Post by jvolkman »

m-j-fox wrote: post #10
bks wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for my number 1 issue with shops...there is no way to check the inventory before you go. Their websites often suck at the store level inventory and if you do call customer care - and they do happen to send someone back to check it can take 10 minutes to find out if they have it, not just in their system - but on the shelf. The elegance of Amazon is its logistics.

Don't forget wandering aisles looking for the Chromecast Fry's helpfully stocks in the back corner of the car radio department.

> Chromecast

Hah. You'll be looking for a lot longer at any of Amazon's stores.

Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#13

Post by koolba »

m-j-fox wrote: post #10
bks wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for my number 1 issue with shops...there is no way to check the inventory before you go. Their websites often suck at the store level inventory and if you do call customer care - and they do happen to send someone back to check it can take 10 minutes to find out if they have it, not just in their system - but on the shelf. The elegance of Amazon is its logistics.

Don't forget wandering aisles looking for the Chromecast Fry's helpfully stocks in the back corner of the car radio department.

And most shops have open/closed hours. With this I can order something at 11pm and go pick it up immediately. Or order it at 2pm and pick up later that day.

Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#14

Post by syntheticnature »

rsynnott wrote: post #4

Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually? (Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes after).

I'm not aware of any current US equivalents, though now-defunct chain Service Merchandise was similar, and Sears was a US pioneer of catalog ordering and did have some overlap in catalog usage in their retail stores, back when they still did catalogs.

Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#15

Post by ghaff »

rsynnott wrote: post #4

Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually? (Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes after).

"Catalog showrooms" used to be more common in the US. Service Merchandise is the name that pops to mind. Lots of places have something like this as part of a hybrid model. B&H Photo is one example that I frequent.

Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#16

Post by Johnny555 »

rsynnott wrote: post #4

Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually? (Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes after).

The USA used to have "Service Merchandise" [1], which was a similar concept -- it was a "catalog showroom", you'd walk the isles, find the product you wanted and write down the code and then after you check out, you'd wait for your product to appear on a conveyer belt from the warehouse. They went out of business in the early 2000's.

I don't know of any similar stores that are still in business.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise

Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#17

Post by ghaff »

dazc wrote: post #11
rsynnott wrote: post #4

Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually? (Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes after).

You can also order online at Argos and pick up although the one time I tried that it worked out slower than ordering in-store. Argos has never done so well as they could do, in my opinion. Not sure Sainsbury's are going to be the ideal solution to this either?

Many major chains have free ship-to-store ordering. I don't take advantage of it much but, especially if you have logistics issues with getting large or expensive packages delivered, it's not a bad option.

Re: Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

#19

Post by sixo »

I feel like there's room in the world for a kind of locally-owned-but-Amazon-franchised brick-and-mortar store. It would probably be named, advertised, etc w/o oversight from amazon, and pick their niche and character in the local market, etc, but source supply from Amazon's network and additionally play the part of a pickup/dropoff site for local deliveries. This is assuming Amazon could trade off some of their margin for the batching of goods (for the shop) and the oversight of their pickup site.
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