Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon vs. Jet.com

businessweek.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 56 posts

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#11

Post by rada »

freshhawk wrote: post #8

Once I sign up, some of the resources return 403 (IP is blocked by geoblocker ...). Went through a US proxy and can see what it's supposed to look like. The funny part is that first message that is supposed to say "Thanks! You're Jet Insider No. XXX,XXXX Share to move up the ranks" instead says: Thanks! You're Jet Insider No." I could not figure out what the hell that was supposed to mean. I guess this is just some l…

The whole sentence reads You're Jet Insider No. 100,000 (or whatever your number is). The number probably loads from a separate service, there is a noticeable delay before it renders.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#12

Post by kin »

dsugarman wrote: post #6
kin wrote: post #5

At first it sounded like a better version of online Costco, which sounds awesome since Costco's selection is limited. But after reading how it really works I'm not so sure this will be that competitive vs. Amazon. There's a dependency on other merchants it sounds like?

over 40% of Amazon sales are from their 3rd party marketplace which relies on third party merchants. If those merchants were allowed to sell without paying Amazon 15% commissions and without competing directly with Amazon's first party sales, you would imagine they could become even more competitive on price. there is no reason Jet will not be consistently lower than Amazon on price especially since they take on no i…

I see. As a prime member my perspective only shows me how I use Amazon. I always use the Prime filter and try to buy things that are Shipped from and Sold from Amazon. For 3rd party merchants than this definitely sounds impactful.

I wonder if there's any room for Jet to satisfy those who seek impulse buys, convenience, and speed.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#13

Post by jplahn »

kin wrote: post #12
dsugarman wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

over 40% of Amazon sales are from their 3rd party marketplace which relies on third party merchants. If those merchants were allowed to sell without paying Amazon 15% commissions and without competing directly with Amazon's first party sales, you would imagine they could become even more competitive on price. there is no reason Jet will not be consistently lower than Amazon on price especially since they take on no i…

I see. As a prime member my perspective only shows me how I use Amazon. I always use the Prime filter and try to buy things that are Shipped from and Sold from Amazon. For 3rd party merchants than this definitely sounds impactful. I wonder if there's any room for Jet to satisfy those who seek impulse buys, convenience, and speed.

From the article, it seems like you still can, you'll just pay a higher price. If you want next day shipping on one item, you can do that; you just won't reap the benefits of their bundling idea.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#14

Post by jbob2000 »

They'll still lose. Amazon has Prime. They have the fastest shipping in the world. Fuck, they practically invented Just-In-Time warehouses. Amazon is diverse too; they have one of the largest clouds in the world. People know about Amazon. Amazon has tons of reviews on products too, so I know if a product is shitty or not.

I order online like 3 or 4 times a year, I'm not going to pay $50 to shave a few percentage points off my total bill.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#15

Post by umsm »

The signup process reminds me of a ponzi-style scheme.

After entering your email, you can "unlock" features or free service by referring people.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#16

Post by joelthelion »

jbob2000 wrote: post #14

They'll still lose. Amazon has Prime. They have the fastest shipping in the world. Fuck, they practically invented Just-In-Time warehouses. Amazon is diverse too; they have one of the largest clouds in the world. People know about Amazon. Amazon has tons of reviews on products too, so I know if a product is shitty or not. I order online like 3 or 4 times a year, I'm not going to pay $50 to shave a few percentage poin…

I hope some other people who understand the value of competition will be more willing than you to give the new entrant a chance...

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#17

Post by MediaSquirrel »

jbob2000 wrote: post #14

They'll still lose. Amazon has Prime. They have the fastest shipping in the world. Fuck, they practically invented Just-In-Time warehouses. Amazon is diverse too; they have one of the largest clouds in the world. People know about Amazon. Amazon has tons of reviews on products too, so I know if a product is shitty or not. I order online like 3 or 4 times a year, I'm not going to pay $50 to shave a few percentage poin…

Do you have kids? Are you a middle-class homeowner?

Because I think that's where the real money is and who these guys are really targeting.

Costco launched in 1980, 30+ years after Wal Mart, and won by offering less selection and lower prices. I believe there's a real opportunity here.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#18

Post by umsm »

jbob2000 wrote: post #14

They'll still lose. Amazon has Prime. They have the fastest shipping in the world. Fuck, they practically invented Just-In-Time warehouses. Amazon is diverse too; they have one of the largest clouds in the world. People know about Amazon. Amazon has tons of reviews on products too, so I know if a product is shitty or not. I order online like 3 or 4 times a year, I'm not going to pay $50 to shave a few percentage poin…

This service is probably aimed at people shopping online at least once a month.

It seems especially useful for regular shipments or products that tend to have large retail margins.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#19

Post by rtkwe »

rbcgerard wrote: post #9

slightly off topic, but what still amazes me is the variability in price over time on amazon... www.camelcamelcamel.com is mind blowing

There's quite a bit of algorithmic pricing going on @ Amazon by all parties. Sometimes it leads to hilarious results.

http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#20

Post by birken »

jbob2000 wrote: post #14

They'll still lose. Amazon has Prime. They have the fastest shipping in the world. Fuck, they practically invented Just-In-Time warehouses. Amazon is diverse too; they have one of the largest clouds in the world. People know about Amazon. Amazon has tons of reviews on products too, so I know if a product is shitty or not. I order online like 3 or 4 times a year, I'm not going to pay $50 to shave a few percentage poin…

Yeah it really doesn't make sense to me. Amazon is already working hard to reduce the price of shipping, which seems to be the biggest thing jet.com is attempting to leverage to lower prices:

- They'll combine different orders automatically into one package

- They routinely use multiple different shippers to send packages (I've seen UPS, USPS, Fedex, Ontrac and Amazon themselves) presumably to find the best rate

- They are investing in advanced future technologies (drones, high-tech warehouses near cities, etc)

- They give you free digital money if you opt into super-slow shipping

And if you look into the future, I don't think people are going to be willing to exchange lower prices for slower shipping. I think people will want faster and faster shipping and somebody is going to have to figure out how to do that cheaply.

As for bulk orders, Amazon already gives discounts for bulk orders (and subscription orders), and are far better positioned to do that more aggressively than any newcomer.

Post reply on HN