Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#141

Post by alasdair_ » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

treis wrote: post #95

CPLX wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in the same boat. I have called and begged and pleaded and escalated to get Amazon to stop using USPS but it just doesn't work. Here in Brooklyn if anything is unusually large they just punch in "attempted delivery" a couple days in a row and send it back. They don't even bother trying, I'm pretty sure it never even leaves the regional sort facility and gets on a truck. I'm not sure I blame them. Amazon once use…

>It's one of a few things that perplex me about Amazon Their price match policy is pretty silly too. I bought a robo vacuum that got a $150 off promotion a week later. They were unwilling to refund me the difference but are willing to let me return the old one for a full refund while buying a new one at the discounted price.

That may make sense if the inverse of percentage of people that actually go to the trouble of returning a bulky item multiplied by the margin is higher than the shipping cost of a new item.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#142

Post by lintroller » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:31 PM UTC

objektif wrote: post #41

leesec wrote: post #32

This is still only on orders over $35. Walmart still does not realize what Bezo's has done with Prime. He has made it the default option and incentivized users to check there first by removing all the friction. Having these weird caveats and no 'membership' (which again, makes users think of Prime first) is going to keep Walmart behind for a long while.

Walmart did realize what AMZN did with prime membership. But they probably also realized their customer base wont pay for another membership.

They already have a bulk retail subscription with Sams Club. A membership that includes access to both the retail store and one-day walmart.com shipping could be attractive.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#143

Post by j-c-hewitt » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:32 PM UTC

mediaman wrote: post #137

WhompingWindows wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you post evidence to support those claims?

These are not controversial claims. Walmart revenue is $514 billion. Amazon revenue is $232 billion. Currently, about half of the retail revenue of Amazon is marketplace sales, where Amazon does not own the merchandise but simply warehouses it on consignment and charges fulfillment fees, or in some cases simply places a drop-ship order for it.

About 70% of Amazon sales are from third party sellers. So if you are comparing apples to apples you have to just look at the ~30% that is direct from Amazon. And with first hand experience with Amazon's Vendor program they go further than a lot of other retailers in pushing costs onto their vendors such as making them eat returns etc.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#144

Post by hnthrowaway5839 » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:33 PM UTC

xfitm3 wrote: post #109

steveeq1 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that an ethical thing to do?

Why wouldn’t it be?

Knowingly placing orders you know will not get fulfilled to collect money... where have I seen this before... https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/seattle/press-releases/201...

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#145

Post by jimmaswell » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:34 PM UTC

aeturnum wrote: post #105

jimmaswell wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wal Mart's practices have certainly been much worse than Amazon's in aggregate.

I suppose I shop at Walmart in a digital context, but avoid them in a physical one. Obviously their competitive practices are pretty harmful. There just aren't good alternatives to Amazon in general. Do you have another recommendation? I've tried to use Target but have found their selection to be quite bad.

Every corporation does some sketchy thing or another so I just use Amazon because it's the most convenient.

You could go out and shop locally at small stores when possible if you want. Some argue it's still better to go to a Wal Mart than order from Amazon because it keeps local jobs. I've heard Amazon warehouse work has bad conditions but pays decently and consistently if you're willing to put up with it, while Wal Mart pays less and switches your shifts around but is obviously less labor intensive - various points for each but I have gotten the impression Wal Mart is worse on society overall. I think it's generally a moot point because the influence of the few people who are both motivated to take these stances on where to shop and can afford to is too small to make a difference - legislation and unionization are the most practical avenues.

One part of local shopping I highly recommend is farmers' markets - not just in the sense of not supporting Tyson et al, fresh eggs are great and you can even get different kinds like duck eggs (bigger and taste better), you can get fresh grass fed beef and other meats if you're lucky, and obviously the vegetables/fruits are good too.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#146

Post by criddell » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:34 PM UTC

ndiscussion wrote: post #132

criddell wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and a way to get products that aren't counterfeits half the time How often do you actually get fakes? My family probably gets an Amazon delivery three or four times a week and we've never received a counterfeit item.

>we've never received a counterfeit item. How can you be sure? That's the trouble with buying from street vendors.. could there be something in this water bottle?

I can't be sure. I got a book and a CD from them yesterday and both look legit. One or both could be counterfeits and I'll never know.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#147

Post by mikestew » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC

mcphage wrote: post #99

octocode wrote: post #8

I'm excited for the future when we'll finally have day-before shipping, where ML predicts what I want before I even order it.

I've assumed that's been coming for a while—Amazon ships you something they think you'll want, and you ship it back if you don't. There are probably legal hurdles, but.

Starting with the fact that, in the U. S. at least, if you didn't order it, you get to keep it. IANAL, but that could probably be signed away in the agreement or something.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#148

Post by tyopiuy » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC

igetspam wrote: post #30

I hope they can do a better job than Amazon but I'm not confident. I'm currently gaming their system of one day delivery failure credits because they can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact hat USPS won't deliver to my door and the packages are too large. USPS gets a box, it won't fit, they take it back to the post office and tell me I can pick it up the next day. I contact amazon, tell them it's late because…

Amazons own last mile has now consistently failed to deliver my sub $20 items several times in a row now. You can say the same for amazon.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#149

Post by ssharp » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:36 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #134

w8rbt wrote: post #113

I'm pulling for Walmart! I've seen the death of so many stores that I dearly miss (Sears, JC Penny, etc.). I can no longer get good hand tools or good t-shirts locally. And, the online stores are full of rip-offs and forgeries. Walmart is the last bastion of honest retail (where I can talk to a fellow human in person). I really hope they make it.

Walmart is the reason vast numbers of people can no longer buy anything good locally. They were killing local stores before Amazon was. I'm rooting for their death, as I have since I first heard about them in the mid 90s, pushing out local music retailers so they can sell the censored, watered-down crap they strongarmed labels into producing. Never spent a penny there, never will.

In my area, music stores managed to survive Walmart for the most part because they got into buying and selling used. Stores like Best Buy also cut into local music sales substantially.

The end result was inevitable, however, regardless of Walmart or Best Buy. First Napster, then Apple, then Spotify. If anything, the local music store survived by offering a premium, through their knowledge, sense of community, vinyl offerings, etc. while Best Buy and Walmart have retreated on music sales.

You can stop this type of progress. While the romantic idea of local shops is appealing, the reality is not. High prices, inconvenient hours, and limited selection pale in comparison to incredible selection, low prices, and 24-hour availability.

Re: Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon

#150

Post by chadash » Tue, May 14, 2019, 4:36 PM UTC

j-c-hewitt wrote: post #128

chadash wrote: post #19

Does anyone know if Walmart has consigned, third party merchandise like Amazon does (e.g. sold by X, but shipped prime)? And if so, does it get commingled with the Walmart supply chain inventory? My issue with Amazon is that I'm afraid of knockoffs, counterfeits and plain old cheap crap with fake reviews (really, 2000 people decided to review your plastic drinking cups?). These days, I'm shopping more and more at Tar…

Walmart Marketplace on the website runs on a similar business model to the Amazon marketplace, so there are third party sellers on their website. In some cases Walmart sells goods on consignment, so it does not own the goods in question, but it is still the seller of record. So, there is a good chance that if you buy something in person at a Walmart that the products you are buying were consigned from the brand, but…

> Unlike getting a product on store shelves which requires passing through a rigorous, sometimes corrupt, but difficult-to-fake process, getting a product on Amazon or Walmart Marketplace is as easy as uploading a spreadsheet or filling out a product description.

This is the key. For the most part, anyone can sell anything on Amazon. On other sites, even if the reviews are fake, at least there's (generally) someone at the retailer who sanity checks their products for a basic level of quality and provenance.