Amazon to buy Diapers.com for $540 million • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to buy Diapers.com for $540 million

#51

Post by cosmicray » Sun, Nov 07, 2010, 4:32 PM UTC

dennyabraham wrote: post #49

I've heard that diapers.com's warehouses are fully automated. If this isn't already how amazon's warehouses are set up, is this infrastructure (and the know-how to reproduce it) part of the reason behind the acquisition?

From what I read, and from what I know personally, being able to take an arbitrary shopping cart of items, and select the most efficient box is a huge advantage. You can absolutely improve your margins by trimming your shipping costs to a minimum. Although the article doesn't mention it, I suspect UPS is doing most of their carriage. Anyone know for sure ?

Re: Amazon to buy Diapers.com for $540 million

#52

Post by the_imp » Sun, Nov 07, 2010, 5:40 PM UTC

dennyabraham wrote: post #49

I've heard that diapers.com's warehouses are fully automated. If this isn't already how amazon's warehouses are set up, is this infrastructure (and the know-how to reproduce it) part of the reason behind the acquisition?

Yes. Their warehouses use a Kiva Systems setup, i.e. they have hundreds of little orange robots that run around and lift & carry shelves. Though an ad, this gives a rather good idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zXOW6v0c8s

Re: Amazon to buy Diapers.com for $540 million

#53

Post by jmelloy » Sun, Nov 07, 2010, 6:45 PM UTC

brianbreslin wrote: post #33

The most fascinating things about their business to me are the robots that move the product shelves TO the human pickers & the algorithmic approach that allows them to eke out extra margins

diapers.com is one of our competitors, and we're currently evaluating the same Kiva system they use in our distribution centers. The initial numbers look fantastic.