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Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

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Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#91

Post by _qwfv »

notatoad wrote: post #47
sokoloff wrote: post #38

I’d be happy to support local merchants, but they have to get the overall value proposition somewhat competitive. For the most part, they aren’t. Maybe it’s pricing, selection, policies, hours of operation, or some combination, but other than grocers and large chains, I’m not even sure they’re trying. Amazon is winning by serving the customers. Local shops will continue to have a hard time if the primary value prop i…

Yeah, Amazon (and increasingly, buying direct from brand's own e-shops) keeps winning my business by being better at every aspect of the sale. I’d like to keep money in my community, but it’s really hard when online has better service, better selection, better pricing, and better flexibility. I could go downtown to buy a pair of shoes during that store's business hours, get to choose between 3-4 different styles, tal…

> by being better at every aspect of the sale.

> I’d like to keep money in my community, but ...

It sounds to me like Amazon is not better at every aspect, you've identified one aspect right there. They are competing on, "Would you rather live in a cookie cutter franchise strip mall or a mom and pop commercial area?"

I'm willing to accept some inefficiencies and some frustrations if it means I've got a nice neighborhood of mom and pop stores.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#92

Post by criddell »

benrbray wrote: post #68
IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are in tokyo. Come on. Tokyo is not Niigata, or Sendai, or Saitama. The tokyo bubble is not the same as the rest of japan

I didn't say I was in Sendai. Human societies were designed to a human scale for thousands of years before cars started dividing us all up. American suburbia is one extreme, and Tokyo is another. Somewhere in between, I'd like to think we can find a balance in city design that allows us all to choose the mode of transportation that is most suitable for the journey.

I think the variety of city types is good too. I live in the suburbs of Austin and it suits me perfectly. I wouldn't be happy in a city like Tokyo (although I haven't been there since 1997).

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#93

Post by Kalium »

matsemann wrote: post #62
Kalium wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last weekend, I went looking for a particular kind of garment. I wasn't hopeful, but I thought I would give local shops a chance. I did it by going around, looking in various local stores, and talking to people. I did this in four or so different spots. I spent probably three to four hours at it. After that process, I was no closer to the garment I sought than I had been when I woke up. What I had learned from my eff…

Could your need have been satisfied with another product available locally? Was your need for that exact product really only created by browsing online? For instance I could spend hours reading reviews about power washers and finding the perfect model and then lamenting it not being available at my local hardware store. Or I could just buy whatever corresponding product they have and be just as happy.

> Could your need have been satisfied with another product available locally? Was your need for that exact product really only created by browsing online?

You raise wise and excellent questions!

In short, no. My desires were not readily met with things available locally. My need was not for a particular product or model, but for a product from a reasonably general category of things with a couple of attributes. There are a variety of products available in the broader market that would have done it for me, only some of which I was aware of. Talking to an array of local small business owners got me a circular set of pointers to other shops to try.

In your example, imagine going to local hardware stores and finding that none had anything that would meet your needs. They'll happily sell you a selection of hoses and send you to another hardware store that has a fine selection of wrenches, but nothing helpful in meeting your needs.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#94

Post by yabadubakta »

qudat wrote: post #89
greenie_beans wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry, I can’t help but point out that you could call the store before you left your house. And when in the store, you could ask a sales associate for help. Just sayin!

> I can’t help but point out that you could call the store before you left your house. And when in the store, you could ask a sales associate for help. This is still worse than going to amazon and doing a quick search, seeing a ton of different products that satisfy your needs, and reading reviews from people that bought them. Then when you purchase it arrives in a day. Fake reviews aside, this is vastly superior.

And then possibly ending up with a counterfeit.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#95

Post by majikandy »

londons_explore wrote: post #60

Small business near me never seem to have online catalogues or stock levels. Hunting for a specific product (for example a washing line) might involve walking into 3 different shops and guessing which shop might sell what you need. When you arrive in the shop, they always arrange aisles differently so unless you have 20 minutes to hunt you might not find it either. Whereas online it's a simple search and click "buy n…

Not scalable though is it. If everyone only goes when needing something right now, there won’t be any shops left to be able to get something right now. I love the concept of local recommendations but yes real-ish-time inventory of local shops needs solving too.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#96

Post by cobrabyte »

Acrobatic_Road wrote: post #26
dane-pgp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're looking for an open source Chrome or Firefox extension that helps people lessen their support of Amazon, then there's this: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/not-today-jeff/hoa... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/not-today-jef... https://github.com/codders/not-today-jeff

If you don't want to use Amazon...then just stop using Amazon. No browser extension required.

Yeah, just add it to your hosts file or something.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#97

Post by varispeed »

londons_explore wrote: post #60

Small business near me never seem to have online catalogues or stock levels. Hunting for a specific product (for example a washing line) might involve walking into 3 different shops and guessing which shop might sell what you need. When you arrive in the shop, they always arrange aisles differently so unless you have 20 minutes to hunt you might not find it either. Whereas online it's a simple search and click "buy n…

Do we really need such shops though? It's like being concerned about horses, when more and more people drive cars. Only thing I buy in a corner store is probably bin bags and something like water if I forget to put it in my bag before leaving house. Everything else I buy online because I can compare, read about the product, watch reviews etc. when in store being on the phone looking up products is not comfortable. We should accept that certain era has ended and look how these store owners could transition into online world. If a corner store was online, I could order that bin bag and they could just pop it in through my door few hours later.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#98

Post by bluefirebrand »

reidjs wrote: post #29

I think I’m the only person who considers online shopping less convenient than just going to a local store and buying it. In person you just walk or drive over to the store, select the item, pay, and go home with the correct product. Online I have to turn on my computer or open an app. Type in a bunch of stuff, Search around, click cookie consent buttons, avoid newsletters, log in, enter your address, put in your cre…

That paragraph you wrote describing the online shopping process is accurate but all of that stuff still takes less time than just the drive to the store, nevermind the drive back.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#99

Post by Pfhreak »

f6v wrote: post #76
cute_boi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They build spaceships, fight disease, and finance science." They do it not for humanity but to earn more money. Its always money, power, and fame at the end.

> They do it not for humanity but to earn more money. Its always money, power, and fame at the end. I think that depends on how you see the world. I believe there’re people who aren’t driven only by desire to have more money.

There are those people, they are just a set of people that doesn't intersect the set of major tech CEOs.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#100

Post by varispeed »

yabadubakta wrote: post #94
qudat wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can’t help but point out that you could call the store before you left your house. And when in the store, you could ask a sales associate for help. This is still worse than going to amazon and doing a quick search, seeing a ton of different products that satisfy your needs, and reading reviews from people that bought them. Then when you purchase it arrives in a day. Fake reviews aside, this is vastly superior.

And then possibly ending up with a counterfeit.

And mislead by fake reviews.
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