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Amazon Supply

amazonsupply.com

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Re: Amazon Supply

#51

Post by gcb »

dsl wrote: post #29
gcb wrote: post #9

It's exactly the same crappy stuff they have on the regular site. everything there i could find on amazon.com, and from my experience buying small lab tools from them, it's a 80% return rate. last one was a set of precision tweezers which only 1/3 of them properly closed in alignment. The good brands are 2x and 3x the price at a proper store.

Sounds like you have had the usual experience with 3rd party sellers on Amazon. Never ever buy from them! These parts are being directly stocked and sold by Amazon.

true. i did my lesson and avoid everything that does not show "backed by amazon". That's why i mention "return rate of 80%"

i did bought some of those from 3rd party, and those are in the garbage.

Re: Amazon Supply

#52

Post by Agathos »

simonsarris wrote: post #30
joezydeco wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Delivery time is why I buy from McMaster. If I get the order in early enough, a dude in a van shows up in a few hours .

This happens to me with Amazon sometimes, when they ship from Nashua, NH to Nashua, NH.

Even Nashua to Cambridge has been same-day for me a couple of times.

Re: Amazon Supply

#53

Post by ippisl »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #23
amac wrote: post #15

I work for an Industrial Supply company and have monitored this since they bought SmallParts. Needless to say, Industrial Supply is a low margin, volume business that requires high service levels. Most Industrial Supply companies sell the same products, there really isn't a differentiator. As always in retail, price, selection and availability are crucial in making sales. This is a good match for Amazon, and obviousl…

Don't underestimate the benefit of physical presence. When I need something now , it is a huge benefit to be able to walk into Fastenal and buy it on the spot. Also, metal is heavy, again using Fastenal as an example, I can order online and pickup instore without paying shipping. Prices are higher than onlinemetals.com, or speedymetals.com but the convenience and no shipping cost often trumps that.

Amazon can offer an option for rapid pickup at their warehouse in major cities, and it would be pretty easy to implement it(especially using warehouse robots).

But i guess that it's a small non-strategic business, so they won't bother.

Re: Amazon Supply

#54

Post by apechai »

This is more likely to put mom & pop stores out of business than threaten the big players like Fastenal, Grainger, McMaster-Carr and MSC Direct.

Mom & pops focus more on retail / small business customers who are price sensitive, so this is going to hurt them.

But the big players mainly rely on their services because industrial and commercial customers care more about minimizing downtime and reliability than on price. The customer service at these companies is great and helps sort through 1 million+ skews, which is completely different from picking 1 out of 20 TVs at Best Buy.

Their customers are companies like Caterpillar who need projects to be on time and same day delivery. Fastenal even puts fasteners directly inside of bins on the assembly lines so that the customer doesn't have to haul a huge chunks of metal.

Amazon would have to seriously boost its service (ie, same day to location) delivery to gain the non-retail customer base as well as expand its sales staff expertise dramatically (which of the 1000 cutting tool bits do I need for X job, what angle does it have to be installed at etc?). What this will do is consolidate the industry with Amazon and the existing big players at the expense of the mom & pops which are over 80% of the market.

It's a $140-160bn a year market. Just goes to show how much opportunity there is in technology to expand outside of consumer-focused businesses.

Re: Amazon Supply

#56

Post by brokentone »

ggchappell wrote: post #37

I guess I'm not quite sure what this is. Say I want some gallium[1]. A search in Amazon turns it up, under "Industrial & Scientific". But a search in AmazonSupply (which claims to cover "scientific, industrial, & business") does not. So AmazonSupply is not just a rebranding of Amazon's existing I&S section. What is it? [1] You want it, too. Gallium melts at 30C, so it's a solid on your table, and a liquid in your han…

That seems like an awesome thing. For the younger members here (and me) can you speak to the danger of this substance? The MSDS for it didn't make it seem too overly scary. Not too far beyond sand's danger (possible skin irritant).

Because it's already in my cart...

Re: Amazon Supply

#57

Post by brokentone »

I wonder both how much business this is going to take from other outlets as well as how much will be new business. People like me who never knew they needed or could easily get random alloys to play with. The big banners for Amazon Prime suggest there may be some of that.

Re: Amazon Supply

#58

Post by DiabloD3 »

brokentone wrote: post #56
ggchappell wrote: post #37

I guess I'm not quite sure what this is. Say I want some gallium[1]. A search in Amazon turns it up, under "Industrial & Scientific". But a search in AmazonSupply (which claims to cover "scientific, industrial, & business") does not. So AmazonSupply is not just a rebranding of Amazon's existing I&S section. What is it? [1] You want it, too. Gallium melts at 30C, so it's a solid on your table, and a liquid in your han…

That seems like an awesome thing. For the younger members here (and me) can you speak to the danger of this substance? The MSDS for it didn't make it seem too overly scary. Not too far beyond sand's danger (possible skin irritant). Because it's already in my cart...

Gallium is poisonous. Do NOT ingest it or handle it without proper safety precautions.

Re: Amazon Supply

#59

Post by ggchappell »

brokentone wrote: post #56
ggchappell wrote: post #37

I guess I'm not quite sure what this is. Say I want some gallium[1]. A search in Amazon turns it up, under "Industrial & Scientific". But a search in AmazonSupply (which claims to cover "scientific, industrial, & business") does not. So AmazonSupply is not just a rebranding of Amazon's existing I&S section. What is it? [1] You want it, too. Gallium melts at 30C, so it's a solid on your table, and a liquid in your han…

That seems like an awesome thing. For the younger members here (and me) can you speak to the danger of this substance? The MSDS for it didn't make it seem too overly scary. Not too far beyond sand's danger (possible skin irritant). Because it's already in my cart...

Well, the only honest answer I can give to such a question is, "Ask someone who knows something about that." Alas that person wouldn't be me. User DiabloD3 seems to have given it a good start, though.

Re: Amazon Supply

#60

Post by damoncali »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

I agree with most that the competitor here is McMaster-Carr. The collateral damage could be places like Lowes/Home Depot etc (brick and mortar supply stores) but agree with most here that SmallParts (which this was created out of) didn't have quite the execution that McMaster-Carr does. The other bit is there is the whole interaction model. In the fabricator world they seem to get an account with one of these compani…

It will be interesting to see how it works out.

Indeed. I've for years been impressed with how sophisticated McMaster-Carr's e commerce operations are. That, and I wonder if not having a "Big Book" will hinder Amazon at all. I've lost days of my life reading MSC's catalog...

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