41–49 of 49 posts
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Did you know that Wal-Mart left the German market, because it was too competitive for them?
http://www.amazon.de/ is still there. In fact my team just launched a new feature on it a week ago. Amazon is far from dead in Germany.
My comment was purely about retail and Wal-Mart.
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Did you know that Wal-Mart left the German market, because it was too competitive for them?
Do you have sources or an article on that?
"Competitors, like the low-cost chains Aldi and Lidl, continue to grow and succeed in Germany. In fact, the competition from a surge of low-cost chains is attributed with keeping average food costs as much as 40% lower in Germany than in France or Great Britain." (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/walmart_leaves.php)
And:
"Wal-Mart, which entered the German market eight years ago, struggled against the might of the discount retailers already operating in Germany, including the no-frills Aldi and Lidl." (http://www.intuitive.com/blog/walmart_sells_off_german_store...)
or: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. boasts that its discount pricing attracts more than 127 million visits to its American stores each week. In Germany, however, its prices apparently weren't low enough." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115407238850420246.html)
Wal-Mart is expensive compared with Aldi. And Aldi has a reputation for treating its employees well, bargaining hard but fair with its suppliers and delivering great value to customers. (My own opinion, but you can read something at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi#Reputation)
[Sorry, I am a fan.]
Amazon lost a lot of credibility in my eyes. Next time, I'll go to each supplier and make separate purchases and skip the middleman that is adding so little value.
Given that Walmart.com runs on the Amazon software, Amazon literally is the Wal-Mart of the web.
Can you cite a source that says walmart.com is using Amazon software? I'm not aware that walmart.com is running on any Amazon software. PS: I work for Amazon and have a friend that works for walmart.com
The article shows an Amazon which is exactly the opposite of what I experienced 3 weeks ago. I needed several items for my wife's birthday. We are on extended stay in the U.S., away from our home in Shanghai. I wanted some Chinese comforts for my wife: tea, chopsticks, chinese cooking spices, rice noodles. After some searching on the web, it looked like I could buy all these through Amazon. I picked 4 different items…
The article shows an Amazon which is exactly the opposite of what I experienced 3 weeks ago. I needed several items for my wife's birthday. We are on extended stay in the U.S., away from our home in Shanghai. I wanted some Chinese comforts for my wife: tea, chopsticks, chinese cooking spices, rice noodles. After some searching on the web, it looked like I could buy all these through Amazon. I picked 4 different items…
They tell you on the item's page, right under the item itself, when the item is being shipped from another seller and is just listed on Amazon. If you don't carefully examine the information they provide, that's your choice.
I am absolutely certain each item I put in my shopping cart said it was "in stock", yet days after the purchase, I received emails from the various providers telling me the real story. I am also certain that even though I tried hard to find out prior to the purchase, it was not possible to see the breakdown in shipping costs. Only seeing one shipping cost line item is one reason some might believe its all being bundled together from a big amazon warehouse somewhere. Especially with widespread business articles like the OP educating the world that's what Amazon has become. Otherwise, why not show me 4 different shipping charges, maybe I want to send one priority and the others not.
I also filled out feedback on these purchases after I received the shipments to state what my complaints were about the shopping experience, but never heard back from anyone. This part of course, doesn't surprise me. Simply pointing out that if I were to do something like this again, I may as well buy direct from the real supplier so that if I did have a problem, I wouldn't be complaining through a middleman.
My one annoyance with Amazon: I live in Australia, yet Amazon item pages still say, even when I'm logged in , that I've qualified for "FREE Super Saving Shiping!" A quick check of Amazon's help pages will tell you that international customers aren't eligible for free shipping of any kind. All of my shipping addresses are in Australia, but Amazon doesn't do any checking of that before saying that I've qualified. Also,…
Literally everything? Is Amazon selling any type of food? In any event, I don't think they're working with fresh (or even frozen) food anytime soon. An idea that I've been thinking about for a while is an Amazon for perishable commodities. At least here in Western Europe, fresh produce has ridiculous markups. It seems obvious that producers and consumers get abused by distributors. I have the feeling that there's an…
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Do you have sources or an article on that?
http://www.google.de/search?q=walmant+leaves+germany gives: "Competitors, like the low-cost chains Aldi and Lidl, continue to grow and succeed in Germany. In fact, the competition from a surge of low-cost chains is attributed with keeping average food costs as much as 40% lower in Germany than in France or Great Britain." ( http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/walmart_leaves.php ) And: "Wal-Mart, which entered the…
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Amazon's severely restricted here in Canada compared to the US, and is pitiful compared to what I'm used to in the UK, so I receive the same problem as I'm frequently on the US site. I don't fare well as I used amazon for nearly everything while in the UK, but now in Canada I'm stuck with CrapBuy and Shit-Mart who sell everything at hiked prices.
Agreed. I really wish the Amazon.ca site would come to mirror the US version. Anyone knows if they've announced plans to do that?
In Canada no bookseller can be majority owned by a foreign company, (they can only own something like 25%, it's seriously screwed up). Amazon doesn't operate foreign subsidiaries and so it can't legally own property in Canada for it's business. Canada Post however essentially gave Amazon a permanent lease of one of their large distribution warehouses in Mississauga right on the Canada Post's own central distribution point for all Ontario post and the central hub for all post travelling through Canada.
Indigo/Chapters/Coles (the same company) cried foul in court and to the government, however the Judge ruled (IIRC) that as Amazon didn't own any property in Canada they were exempt from the ownership laws. Obviously when the laws were originally set in place they didn't realise how easy it would be for a company to operate without its own property.
I doubt Amazon.ca will come to mirror the US site any time soon. They're in a tough situation and until the laws change, they likely can't afford to jeopardise their position.