101–110 of 310 posts
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Absolutely. I saw that website were Bezos’ wealth was measured out in pixels. He could easily eradicate a disease, wipe out all student debt or something else you can dream of, but afaik he isn’t doing that.
Maybe because his wealth is measured by the stock he owns and the price would drop should he decide to dump it.
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.
Of course there will be, because demand will still exist.
There will just be less shops, with higher prices, and focused only on the types of things people tend to need immediately.
But that's exactly what people would want -- buy most of your stuff cheaply online with a delay, but have shops specializing in need-it-now categories of things for a premium price.
It's an entirely viable model.
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> In person you just walk or drive over to the store, select the item, pay, and go home with the correct product. I think you mean get the kids ready and put them in the car, drive for 20 minutes to Target, spend another 5 trying to park, schlep from the back of the parking lot to the store in 90 degree heat, wander endlessly around the store because they moved one of your usual purchases into and end-cap. Inevitably…
Two thoughts there. First, my partner and I always send one person to the store, so that we don't have to load up the kids or deal with them in the store. Second, I think that this shopping experience you describe is a uniquely suburban experience. Going to Target is indeed awful. But, where I live in the city, it's a reasonably pleasant 10 minute walk to the neighborhood hardware store, which has had the same layout…
It's funny how the human ecosystem works. Bad design decisions over many years lead to opportunity for polluting megacorp.
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…
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!
Do you... try that regularly?
Stores are so understaffed, you're lucky to get them to pick up the phone at all, and if they do you often won't get accurate information. They'll never walk to an aisle to see if something is physically there, they'll tell you if it's "in the system", but frequently "the system" will show 3 in stock while the reality is zero on the shelf. Or 48 in stock but they're all on a pallet in the back they can't get to.
And good luck finding a sales associate in the store itself. Quite frequently there simply aren't any -- only cashiers, a security guard, and people restocking who don't have the knowledge to help you at all.
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.
Shops seem reluctant to do this, possibly because they don't like being price matched or view their inventory as a trade secret.
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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…
I can imagine some future world where ordering garments online works for me. Maybe I could scan my body and see an AR version of the clothing using real physics simulation or something, though I'm also picky about how a fabric feels. So, for me, I can't tell if a garment is going to look good or bad on me unless I try it on. Further, I just don't seem to find what I'm looking for online. I also find looking online sl…
I can tell you from experience that SF specifically, and the Bay generally, has a pretty wide variety of clothing available from a series of retailers. I've seen everything from one-person brands to chains and lots of things in between. You sometimes have to go looking for smaller retailers or more unusual styles. The retailers aren't always clustered together like the big chains are around Union Square. It can most definitely be challenging to know where to get started to look, and it took me a while to figure out which ones tend to stock things I like.
LA even has a whole garment production industry. There's a lot of small brands based there for exactly this reason!
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…
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!
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…
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!
If I call, it’s often 5 to 10 minutes for the call to determine stock availability (often the clerk needs to go wander around to find it, or go to the far back of their lot to see how much they have). That’s assuming anyone knows what I’m talking about/I can adequately describe what I’m looking for without them getting confused, which isn’t always the case.
This adds up. For some things it’s worth it, or even essential. For other things, it is not. I’ve given up on in-person for computer/networking/IT equipment for instance. Too difficult to get a clear answer, local markups and stocking are too unpredictable, it’s so much faster doing a search and purchasing online.
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!
That's hilarious! Do you... try that regularly? Stores are so understaffed, you're lucky to get them to pick up the phone at all, and if they do you often won't get accurate information. They'll never walk to an aisle to see if something is physically there, they'll tell you if it's "in the system", but frequently "the system" will show 3 in stock while the reality is zero on the shelf. Or 48 in stock but they're all…
So I guess my anecdote cancels yours out?