Buy on Google is now open and commission-free

Post by mrweasel » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 12:20 PM UTC

flavor8 wrote: post #228

mrweasel wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Solve shipping"... Shipping packages is a solved problem in many countries. You order something, before the shipping company picks up the orders for today at the sell, anywhere from 17:00 to 22:00. It shows up at your door the next day or a pickup point of your choosing.

To truly compete with Amazon, they need convenience. Buying packages from mom&pop retailers to ship can yield anywhere from 1 day to 3 week delivery times. Aside from a strong anti-Amazon conviction, where's the motivation for consumers to do that? To achieve convenience requires either building out a logistics infrastructure on the scale of Amazon, which is clearly a business Google doesn't want to be in, or to appr…

Post by mark_l_watson » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 12:38 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #168

surbas wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use google for email they already have your order history...

Precisely why I don't use Gmail. I know that most people I correspond with use Gmail, so it's somewhat pointless, but at least my use of Protonmail adds some friction to the system when I use it for buying stuff.

Post by amelius » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 1:22 PM UTC

gowld wrote: post #152

aljg wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would almost certainly be illegal (antitrust violation) and probably wouldn't be worth the firestorm even if it was legal.

OK they'll raise seller prices and offer discounts for exclusivity.

Post by Corrado » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

beenBoutIT wrote: post #187

flavor8 wrote: post #101

They need to solve shipping. Partner with Uber (or hey, Waymo) to pick up and drop off packages from shops to consumers. An alternate model would be to make search good enough let consumers find stores within a radius of their current location selling X, and price compare them. E.g. I need a widget - stores a, b and c are selling it. Store a is $14.99 and 5 miles away, store b is $8.99 and 15 miles away, store c is $…

They need to partner with the US Postal Service and the USPS needs to become the primary delivery method for this type of retail. The USPS has the advantage of already visiting every reltail location 6 days a week for mail delivery. As far as society as a whole is concerned, adding additional postal workers to the workforce is a lot better than adding more temporary gig workers.

    1. Dig something out of your basement that might be worth something; Treadmill, Pokemon Cards, etc.
    2. "List" it on Google Shopping
    3. USPS picks it up and delivers it
    4. PROFIT!

Post by saalweachter » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 3:26 PM UTC

mikelward wrote: post #181

jeffbee wrote: post #133

This doesn't seem to solve the main problem I have with Amazon: even when I know exactly what I want, it's impossible to find. Amazon hides the thing you want behind the items they want you to buy instead, and they allow fakes and spammers to flourish. They never have the right aspects in their search filters, either. Looks like Google is the same way. I can't find an A19 LED light bulb with 2700K color temperature a…

If I search for Pixel 3 case on Amazon, it will also return Pixel 3 XL cases. If I search for 1440p IPS monitor, it will mix in some monitors that aren't 1440p, and some that aren't IPS. I'm not sure if it's because they don't want to solve the problem, because they don't care, or because somehow having customers need to spend more time on Amazon to research their purchases perversely leads to people spending more ti…