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The Anti-Amazon Alliance

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Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#301

Post by [deleted] »

TheTrotters wrote: post #295
lucb1e wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in the Netherlands, it was recently announced that Amazon will open a Dutch store (not sure when) but it was quite a shock for me when moving to Germany that people here have no clue how to order things other than by going to Amazon. Too much effort to use google and try different web shops if all the web shops can come to a monopolizing marketplace instead I guess? Too bad that the marketplace also competes wit…

Amazon.de delivers to the Netherlands and Poland, for example. They offer Prime for the Netherlands too. And you can set language to English. No Amazon would mean I’d have to use comparison sites, make a bunch of accounts on different websites, pay for shipping each time, and make more orders in total. I’m beyond happy that Amazon.de works perfectly for Poland. I see almost no upside to the alternative.

[deleted]

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#302

Post by Non24Throw »

thr0w__4w4y wrote: post #225

Way way back, when Amazon got bigger than just books, my motivation for using them was a) very good selection (in one order, I can order bagel chips, wiper blades and a router?) and b) price. Implicit in this was authenticity and good customer service -- for me, if the product isn't the real thing, or the company is a nightmare to deal with, it's a non-starter. Well now here we are. Fake reviews, counterfeit products…

> their prices aren't competitive anymore...

What do you mean by this?

Amazon has had the lowest price for basically everything I’ve shopped for in the last 4 years. When it is higher on Amazon, it’s by pennies (because algorithms) and not for very long.

At home there’s a grocery store at the bottom of my elevator. It costs less money for me to buy groceries on Amazon Fresh with same-day delivery, than it does for me to go downstairs and buy my own groceries. Not a little bit less either, like 20% less. Same products!

I don’t even have to be home, the groceries just materialize at my front door whenever I schedule them to.

I think HN just gets on a negativity roll sometimes, and the most extreme or exaggerated comments float to the top.

I’m sure there are plenty of externalities, probably moreso with Amazon than most any other company... but let’s not pretend that Amazon isn’t doing amazing things for their customers. The efficiencies they’ve added to my life have saved me hundreds of hours.

They’ve done that with a business model that (allegedly) monetizes the widespread violation of all kinds of regulations while (allegedly) externalizing all of the liability, and it’s devastating hundreds of businesses, and a million other things ... but on the other end of all of that is a very happy customer.

There would be no point to playing so dirty if there was nothing in it for the customer. It wouldn’t even work, we would all just go back to K-Mart.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#303

Post by partyboat1586 »

bsanr2 wrote: post #287
partyboat1586 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all the media player space is dead. Secondly just because Samsung Andriod phones or Dell XPS laptops are nominally premium doesn't mean they are on par with Apple in terms of how they are perceived by consumers. They are also certainly not status symbols. A Lambo or a Ferrari are pretty much on par in the eyes of the consumer for how premium they are and how much of a status symbol they are. Not so with X pr…

>First of all the media player space is dead. Not quite. In fact, the premium media player space is essentially the only one that still exists. They're mostly Android-based devices with high-quality DACs for the playback of lossless, high-bitrate music files. >Secondly just because Samsung Andriod phones or Dell XPS laptops are nominally premium doesn't mean they are on par with Apple in terms of how they are perceiv…

Niche market for audio enthusiasts is the same as dead next to the old market. I'll admit that the surface line up is closing the gap but they are still not there yet in terms of brand recognition. As for Samsung and the Chinese brand phones my old point still stands, they are not status symbols, the latest iPhone is.

I'm not a fanboy, I have plenty of qualms with Apple. For example they run their new MacBooks so hot that they are constantly throttling. The lack of 32 bit support on Catalina is a pain in the ass and Apple won't let anyone else repair their machines which is BS. I personally use an Android because iPhones are way overpriced but I have a MacBook because I need it for work (React Native). I'm not arguing that Apple is the best I'm arguing that they have a brand image that is well above the competition in a way that you don't see in other markets.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#304

Post by cactus2093 »

pas wrote: post #267
Loughla wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>their website is almost nothing more than Ebay in some sense I would argue that it's even worse. At least, IME, the ratings at E-bay for both sellers and products mean something. With Amazon, neither mean a damned thing anymore. It's just a crap shoot, unless you know exactly what you're already looking for. Amazon used to be nice, because you could actually do product research. The worst thing, again in my opinion,…

> unless you know exactly what you're already looking for. I know what I'm looking for, but most of the products are impossible to evaluate, because there is just not enough info/data. Low res bad stock photos, terse description, no full technical specs, etc. And many Amazon sellers don't sell anywhere else, they don't even have a real website, so ... good luck deciding based on that. And since Amazon become so big,…

I feel like you just entirely explained the situation. There is still a "high-end overpriced" segment for all kinds of industries. Sometimes luxury goods, but sometimes just mid-tier goods sold by companies that still follow the high-margin traditional retail model. With an MSRP price that leaves enough room for inefficient, high-touch stores to take a hefty margin as a middleman.

But even someone who actively dislikes Amazon such as yourself would still rather get the lowest price and access to the largest selection, even if it means begrudgingly putting up with a worse experience.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#305

Post by daotoad »

nerfhammer wrote: post #223
jimktrains2 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sears just confuses the heck out of me. They had everything they needed to basically be what Amazon is now, before Amazon even existed. Heck they were basically Amazon before the web existed.

They were the Amazon of 1905

And 1950 and 1980.

They could be great again if they leveraged their old "good, better, best" strategy. Instead of trying to sell all the things like Amazon and Walmart do, they should be offering a broad, curated set of items that are reliable and binned by those three quality descriptors.

This specifically addresses the issues many people have with buying from Amazon.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#306

Post by noizejoy »

vict00ms wrote: post #256
noizejoy wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or guitars they hope to play regularly :-)

The best guitar-purchasing advise I ever got was: Never buy your dream guitar because you'll never feel like you're good enough to play it.

lol - there’s some truth to that, depending on the definition of dream guitar. In my case my dream guitar was somewhat more expensive than all of my other one’s and it became and still is my number one every day guitar. It just feels so right and sounds so good, it makes me feel like a better player. :-)

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#307

Post by davidwitt415 »

Loughla wrote: post #164
zbobet2012 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your points, but I've also found another one that is far more common: They sell products at a loss to gain income in other places. For example, if you are a content producer you are competing with a company that sells "ad-free" video (Prime Video) attached to a low-cost service (Prime) so that they can sell more goods online. Amazon is killing content producers by running a negative margin content busine…

>That is a strategy only available to... monopolies. Wait. And this is 100% not meant to be snide, it's a real question. Isn't that the actual strategy for tech startups? Work with investor capital long enough to get established and own the market by selling at negative margins, then increase the price once you own the market?

It is the ideal for any business, but it definitely is not for the consumer or the economy, and this is why governments enact anti-trust legislation. The government is supposed to enforce against monopolies, but unfortunately in the US government this has been undermined. Matt Stoller has a great book and e-newsletter about monopolies past and present vs. government.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#308

Post by adamc »

Non24Throw wrote: post #302
thr0w__4w4y wrote: post #225

Way way back, when Amazon got bigger than just books, my motivation for using them was a) very good selection (in one order, I can order bagel chips, wiper blades and a router?) and b) price. Implicit in this was authenticity and good customer service -- for me, if the product isn't the real thing, or the company is a nightmare to deal with, it's a non-starter. Well now here we are. Fake reviews, counterfeit products…

> their prices aren't competitive anymore... What do you mean by this? Amazon has had the lowest price for basically everything I’ve shopped for in the last 4 years. When it is higher on Amazon, it’s by pennies (because algorithms) and not for very long. At home there’s a grocery store at the bottom of my elevator. It costs less money for me to buy groceries on Amazon Fresh with same-day delivery, than it does for me…

Maybe you shop for different things? I've seen things lately that were clearly cheaper at the local grocery store.

For things like PC components, I find them hit or miss. They might be the cheapest (or near it), but they might also be way more expensive than another legit retailer. These days, I always check, because they are so variable. A lot of that is probably that Amazon doesn't carry everything, and other sellers are a crapshoot.

I don't know where you live that their groceries are so much cheaper, but it isn't true here in Texas, where HEB (the dominant grocery chain) is hard to beat.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#309

Post by MattGaiser »

daotoad wrote: post #305
nerfhammer wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were the Amazon of 1905

And 1950 and 1980. They could be great again if they leveraged their old "good, better, best" strategy. Instead of trying to sell all the things like Amazon and Walmart do, they should be offering a broad, curated set of items that are reliable and binned by those three quality descriptors. This specifically addresses the issues many people have with buying from Amazon.

They should mail out one last catalogue to drag everyone back in and then summon them to a well designed website.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#310

Post by jabroni_salad »

TylerE wrote: post #285
Loughla wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>their website is almost nothing more than Ebay in some sense I would argue that it's even worse. At least, IME, the ratings at E-bay for both sellers and products mean something. With Amazon, neither mean a damned thing anymore. It's just a crap shoot, unless you know exactly what you're already looking for. Amazon used to be nice, because you could actually do product research. The worst thing, again in my opinion,…

"A++++++++++++++++++ AMAZING SELLR" means something?

It isn't unheard of for people to complain if a review does not have enough plusses, so maybe.
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