Day Two to One Day

#1

Post by kaboro » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 12:17 PM UTC

Re: Day Two to One Day

#2

Post by yuy910616 » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:25 PM UTC

As Ben said...revenue has not showed up. I really wonder if going from 2 days to 1 day is as valuable to consumers, and as impactful on revenue, to going from say 1 week to 2 days.

We might not see revenue increase for years, and revenue is going to become more expensive.

However, if AMZ continue to invest in difficult logistical challenges, the small marginal gains in shipping time might suddenly add up to a leap: i'm imagining going from next day to a few hours.

edit: syntax, grammar

Re: Day Two to One Day

#3

Post by coreyrab » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:34 PM UTC

yuy910616 wrote: post #2

As Ben said...revenue has not showed up. I really wonder if going from 2 days to 1 day is as valuable to consumers, and as impactful on revenue, to going from say 1 week to 2 days. We might not see revenue increase for years, and revenue is going to become more expensive. However, if AMZ continue to invest in difficult logistical challenges, the small marginal gains in shipping time might suddenly add up to a leap: i…

Going from 2 days to 1 day has always felt more like a luxury to me – and one I am willing to pay for when needed. For 95% of the purchases I make 2 day shipping is more than quick enough.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#4

Post by aresant » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:42 PM UTC

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day.

They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light.

Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and not switched etc. I hit the roulette wheel and ultimately got a unit that arrived DOA.

My trust in the last two years has deteriorated massively in their platform, as a consumer I am absolutely suseptable to a “quality first” disruptor.

And amazon is obviously jam packed with smart people, so what am I missing about their apparent lack of focus or execution on this commonly lamented problem?

Re: Day Two to One Day

#5

Post by mrfredward » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:43 PM UTC

I like the article, but I think a missing piece of this is that when a company becomes a big enough conglomerate, parts can be in day 2 while other parts are at day 1. Amazon isn't raising money from investors anymore, it's taking profits on parts of the business and using it to expand in other places, and Bezos himself is famous for saying a profit margin is an opportunity for disruption.

That being said, in many ways the point of business is to end up a day 2 company. VCs invest so they can cash out in the IPO, IPO investors buy so they can sell to other investors, those investors sell to others, and so on. It sounds like the last guy is left holding the bag, but in fact, the people at the end can make a fortune, even as the company is fading away, if the company is distributing profits through dividends and buybacks. If a company dies before it gets to that end phase though, the whole thing will have just been a wealth transfer from later investors to the early ones.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#6

Post by vollmond » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

And even for brand name items, you still have counterfeit worries (IE, many people refuse to buy flash storage at all from Amazon now), due to counterfeits from intermingling of "sold by amazon" and "shipped by amazon" items.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#7

Post by groby_b » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

coreyrab wrote: post #3

yuy910616 wrote: post #2

As Ben said...revenue has not showed up. I really wonder if going from 2 days to 1 day is as valuable to consumers, and as impactful on revenue, to going from say 1 week to 2 days. We might not see revenue increase for years, and revenue is going to become more expensive. However, if AMZ continue to invest in difficult logistical challenges, the small marginal gains in shipping time might suddenly add up to a leap: i…

Going from 2 days to 1 day has always felt more like a luxury to me – and one I am willing to pay for when needed. For 95% of the purchases I make 2 day shipping is more than quick enough.

fwiw: Many of us dinosaurs remember when you ordered things on Amazon, and it took a week and cost shipping. Prime, and 2-day shipping, felt like a luxury you don't need. (And many of us thought long and hard if we should spend, and then it turned out to be really convenient...)

And those of us from the Triassic period even remember the days before Amazon, where you went to a bookstore, and you hoped they had a book that you needed, and if not, oh well, we can get it in 4-6 weeks. And then Amazon popped up, and you could just order online, and it felt like a luxury to have things in a week, and then we paid for it. We didn't need those books within a week, mind. It was the Triassic, we moved slowly, and 4-6 weeks for a rare book seemed just fine. (Because, amongst other things, it gave you an excuse to spend the next 4-6 weeks browsing what other books the store had ;)

I'm fairly certain the same will happen to 1-day. It'll feel like a luxury. It'll turn out to be convenient. It'll take a year or so, and then we'll all happily pay for it.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#8

Post by dexterdog » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

Does it even have to be a disruptor? Can't people just figure out how to put a better storefront on Amazon's backend and just filter out the garbage?

Re: Day Two to One Day

#9

Post by allthecybers » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

One-day shipping is definitely a logistical leap for mankind but I often wonder the environmental impact that is accrued in the pursuit of total convenience.

Also, their Prime branded delivery trucks are driven by gig workers, essentially making Prime the Uber of the delivery world.

I just wonder how sustainable it all is. What level of convenience will be demanded next and what cost will that pose to the environment and to the part-time or gig workers who keep it moving.

Re: Day Two to One Day

#10

Post by justaguyhere » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

aresant wrote: post #4

Anazon is better than ever for brand name, known buys. Eg I recently ordered a UHD bluray movie, took about 15 seconds end to end and arrived in a day. They are terrible for everything else. Eg I bought a reading light. Which was a 10 minute sorting excersise trying to figure out which of a dozen nearly identical products was the least likely to burn down my house. Then trying to uncover which had real reviews and no…

what am I missing about their apparent lack of focus

I'd guess it is not that they don't know or they can't fix it, it is that they just don't care. Considering the resources at their disposal, they can fix this problem easily. It is probably not (yet) a problem big enough to hurt them financially, so they don't put any effort into it. Every decision is probably purely driven by financial motive.