How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail • Hacker News Board

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#101

Post by robterrell » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:12 AM UTC

cglee wrote: post #94

wheels wrote: post #54

Amazon has been doing this in parts of Germany since 2009. The results haven't been nearly as dramatic as the article predicts. As others have indicated, the limiting factor isn't so much speed of delivery as the inclination to physically inspect items before buying them. That said, Zappos, now a part of Amazon, has succeeded in doing that in one of the markets that tends the most towards such. Even so, there are sti…

When Zappos first came out I thought they'd tank. I purchase new basketball/running shoes every 6months, and never ever make a new purchase without trying it on. Playing basketball or running with an even slightly uncomfortable shoe can lead to blistering, back problems, ankle sprains, etc. But my gf at the time thought it was brilliant. What I learned was that a lot of women's shoes are purchased based on anything e…

Used to love the 993, but now I've switched to the Pearl Izumi for running, which I discovered through Zappos and their awesome return policy. Watching my wife goes through the Zappos process, and being an overall internet hermit, made me want to try it out.

I bought four pairs of shoes in what seemed like the best size and width for me (there is good information about brand size trends on their site), got them the next day and tried them on, decided on the Izumis and sent the others back with the UPS shipping tag they gave me.

I understand things are different now, but that was an excellent buying experience. I've never bought running shoes from a local store since.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#102

Post by rdl » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:18 AM UTC

mthoms wrote: post #99

This is the trojan horse. Once Amazon has a large presence in each major centre, the next logical step for them is use some of their massive space as a showroom (think Ikea but on a much larger scale). [Edit: To clarify, the showroom and warehouse would be in the same complex but separated. Shoppers + heavy merchandise + fast moving robots is a recipe for disaster.] Then they can satisfy both the "I want to see it be…

Interesting idea, but I seriously doubt Amazon would do this with their normal warehouses -- maybe paying sales tax and thus being able to have presence in major cities would let them set up dedicated showrooms for certain kinds of high-lifetime-margin products, like Kindles and maybe a Kindle Phone, though.

Big warehouses are highly automated (especially Amazon's), essentially unsafe for untrained people (forklifts, robots), and potentially at risk for theft. Not the kind of place you'd want customers milling around. Amazon is more likely to promote their existing easy return policy -- buy 3 pairs of shoes and send back the two you don't like -- vs. letting people into their warehouses.

Small, Apple-store style showrooms, or partnerships with someplace like Starbucks, would make a lot more sense. The lifetime value of a Kindle user far exceeds the cost of a Kindle (I probably have 200 x $10 books on mine at least), and it's the kind of product where try before you buy could be important. I'd rather have a bunch of Kindles and Kindle Fires in a cafe setting where you could check one out for a few hours, buy or get free drinks, and comfortably use the devices in an ideal environment, though. This could work for all the Amazon first-party products.

Maybe there are third-party products which would benefit from this, so Apple store sized showrooms with rotating third party stock (and fixed first party stock) could work, but they are really unlikely to be the existing warehouses.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#103

Post by robterrell » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:19 AM UTC

earl wrote: post #41

ddt wrote: post #11

It'll destroy larger B&M stores but I doubt it'll fully outdo local specialty shops. What you'll see is a stratification between hyper specialty B&M that sell luxury items only a tiny subset of people want, but are willing to pay out the nose for, and places like Amazon filling the role of Target and Walmart, being the catch-all for everything else that most people need on a week-to-week or month-to-month basis. Whil…

Also, amazon is kind of skeevy; I'm very leery of buying food, cosmetics, or toiletries from them because they make it really hard to tell from whom you're buying stuff. I'm happy to buy eg usb cables from the cheapest vendor, but I don't trust any of the chinese knockoff shit if it's going to regularly touch my skin or be eaten. Particularly since china appears to have no real food safety laws and poisoned 300k of t…

I buy food (dry goods: cereal, granola bars, coffee, etc.) from Amazon all the time. It's always clear who the item comes from, usually a manufacturer you've seen at the grocery store, and I've never gotten a knockoff item. Well, that I know of. Hmmm. You know, the very idea of knockoff food items from Amazon is so deeply disturbing I'm going to entirely ignore the possibility.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#104

Post by latch » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:20 AM UTC

greghinch wrote: post #87

eswangren wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wOuld I feel the need to inspect a book before buying it? I am working under the assumption that no pages will be missing. It's worked out fine thus far. You do realize that purchasing items over the Internet has been working well for some time now, right?

You've obviously not tried purchasing things in a 3rd world market, such as in China

China hasn't been a 3rd world country for some time. It isn't even close. Sure there are massive pockets of poverty (with 1 billion people, there are massive pockets of everything)...but visit India or parts of Africa if you want to see what 3rd world is.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#105

Post by rdl » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:20 AM UTC

earl wrote: post #41

ddt wrote: post #11

It'll destroy larger B&M stores but I doubt it'll fully outdo local specialty shops. What you'll see is a stratification between hyper specialty B&M that sell luxury items only a tiny subset of people want, but are willing to pay out the nose for, and places like Amazon filling the role of Target and Walmart, being the catch-all for everything else that most people need on a week-to-week or month-to-month basis. Whil…

Also, amazon is kind of skeevy; I'm very leery of buying food, cosmetics, or toiletries from them because they make it really hard to tell from whom you're buying stuff. I'm happy to buy eg usb cables from the cheapest vendor, but I don't trust any of the chinese knockoff shit if it's going to regularly touch my skin or be eaten. Particularly since china appears to have no real food safety laws and poisoned 300k of t…

They show the seller, and I agree a lot of the Marketplace sellers are horrible. I pretty much stick to Amazon.com LLC (i.e. real Amazon) and trusted sellers (Adorama, J&R, ...) for most products.

I wish there were a way to set a flag in your account to ONLY show Amazon.com LLC products.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#106

Post by dave5104 » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:27 AM UTC

I'm surprised Amazon just hasn't started their own logistics company. With the spread of their warehouses now, is the next logical step becoming their own USPS/UPS/FedEx? I can only imagine what would happen once Amazon takes over the part of the process that seems to always have the most problems.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#107

Post by rdl » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:28 AM UTC

robterrell wrote: post #101

cglee wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Zappos first came out I thought they'd tank. I purchase new basketball/running shoes every 6months, and never ever make a new purchase without trying it on. Playing basketball or running with an even slightly uncomfortable shoe can lead to blistering, back problems, ankle sprains, etc. But my gf at the time thought it was brilliant. What I learned was that a lot of women's shoes are purchased based on anything e…

Used to love the 993, but now I've switched to the Pearl Izumi for running, which I discovered through Zappos and their awesome return policy. Watching my wife goes through the Zappos process, and being an overall internet hermit, made me want to try it out. I bought four pairs of shoes in what seemed like the best size and width for me (there is good information about brand size trends on their site), got them the n…

I really prefer the NB 856.

I've never found Zappos to have particularly good selection of the shoes I buy (men's dress shoes, boots of various kinds, etc). They're particularly bad for boots. Their main focus seems low to mid range female shoes.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#108

Post by rdl » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:30 AM UTC

dave5104 wrote: post #106

I'm surprised Amazon just hasn't started their own logistics company. With the spread of their warehouses now, is the next logical step becoming their own USPS/UPS/FedEx? I can only imagine what would happen once Amazon takes over the part of the process that seems to always have the most problems.

Until now it would have meant becoming a business in each delivery state and thus exposing themselves to sales tax. Maybe this will change in the future, and they are their own delivery company for AmazonFresh in Seattle I think.

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#109

Post by skylervm » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:34 AM UTC

sebastianavina wrote: post #70

InclinedPlane wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the same county as Amazon's HQ, I pay full sales tax on everything there, it hasn't changed my shopping habits one bit, amazon is just such a better deal most of the time.

so, this means we are heading to a walmart vs amazon war? shit just got real.

Sure seems that way :/

Re: How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail

#110

Post by Alex3917 » Thu, Jul 12, 2012, 2:39 AM UTC

steve8918 wrote: post #100

AncientPC wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this is a uniquely American thing. Similar to Dell's failed entrance into Asia, Americans are uniquely content with purchasing plenty of merchandise without ever physically examining the product.

Amazon has an absolutely amazing return policy. I've only returned an item once, but it was a $400 USB video adapter that didn't work with my monitors. I just printed out a UPS label, and returned it to the closest UPS store for free, and I got an instant refund.

"Amazon has an absolutely amazing return policy."

Watch out of Amazon Marketplace though. I bought a copy of The Wire through there that ended up being pirated (and terrible quality), and Amazon would neither refund the purchase nor shut down the vendor, even after we got a letter from HBO confirming that it was a pirated copy.