Shopping Sucks Now
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Shopping Sucks Now
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Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#2Something that has been lost is genuine reviews. First you have all the sponsored reviews and then all the equally worthless "I don't know how to use it so it's junk" or "it never arrived" 1 star reviews.
And so many "review" sites look like they've been procedurally generated then SEO optimized and filled with ads.
Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#3Anyone working on a Trader Joes meets Amazon? That curates maybe 1-3 versions of things, largely eliminating paradox of choice.
I guess Costco is kind of a bulk version of that...
Also I've been increasingly interested in just buying things once and having them last a decade+, ideally a lifetime (less waste). But this takes a lot of research. Trader Joes does a good job of curating groceries and I've come to trust their choices. It would be nice to have this for products.
Essentially, "This is the version of X that will last 10+ years."
Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#4That "tyranny of perfect information" begets FOMO. If you'd looked at one more site or one more review you might have discovered a "better" (cheaper, high quality, higher utility) item.
I'd add that's it's worse because the world is flatter. Why should I buy Brand Item when I can get a version from Alibaba for 10-20%? If it truly is comparable, then why pay the markup when the internet lets me cut out the middleman? But then when the version from Alibaba is total crap, there's no recourse. It's not like a local shop with reputation at risk.
So you end up in this world where nothing matters and it's a race to maximize attention. Which means, as a consumer, you have to do your research or risk getting taken for a ride.
Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#5Anyone working on a Trader Joes meets Amazon? That curates maybe 1-3 versions of things, largely eliminating paradox of choice. I guess Costco is kind of a bulk version of that... Also I've been increasingly interested in just buying things once and having them last a decade+, ideally a lifetime (less waste). But this takes a lot of research. Trader Joes does a good job of curating groceries and I've come to trust th…
Brandless is pursuing something down this line:
Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#6Or stop trying to hyper-optimize?
Buy from a handful of trusted brands; if it doesn't work out, don't buy from them again. Like what people did before all this information was available.
Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#7Shopping only sucks if you're in a hurry and even then it's hard to argue that it's gotten worse, just a different set of problems.
Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#8Anyone working on a Trader Joes meets Amazon? That curates maybe 1-3 versions of things, largely eliminating paradox of choice. I guess Costco is kind of a bulk version of that... Also I've been increasingly interested in just buying things once and having them last a decade+, ideally a lifetime (less waste). But this takes a lot of research. Trader Joes does a good job of curating groceries and I've come to trust th…
Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#9Something that has been lost is genuine reviews. First you have all the sponsored reviews and then all the equally worthless "I don't know how to use it so it's junk" or "it never arrived" 1 star reviews. And so many "review" sites look like they've been procedurally generated then SEO optimized and filled with ads.
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Re: Shopping Sucks Now
#10That "tyranny of perfect information" begets FOMO. If you'd looked at one more site or one more review you might have discovered a "better" (cheaper, high quality, higher utility) item. I'd add that's it's worse because the world is flatter. Why should I buy Brand Item when I can get a version from Alibaba for 10-20%? If it truly is comparable, then why pay the markup when the internet lets me cut out the middleman?…
yeah, I get bombarded with ads on Instagram for a decent looking product at a "must be a quality item" price. But a quick AliExpress search reveals there probably just getting it there and reselling for huge markups. Pretty smart actually.