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Amazon vs. Jet.com

businessweek.com

21–30 of 56 posts

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#21

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.

You wrote:

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 did not launch thirty-plus years after WalMart.

"THE HISTORY OF COSTCO

"The company's first location, opened in 1976 under the Price Club name, was in a converted airplane hangar on Morena Boulevard in San Diego. Originally serving only small businesses, the company found it could achieve far greater buying clout by also serving a selected audience of non-business members. With that change, the growth of the warehouse club industry was off and running. In 1983, the first Costco warehouse location was opened in Seattle. Costco became the first company ever to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales in less than six years. When Costco and Price Club merged in 1993, the combined company, operating under the name PriceCostco, had 206 locations generating $16 billion in annual sales."

http://www.costco.com/about.html

"1962

"On July 2, 1962, Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Ark."

http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/history/history-timel...

I have four children (three still living at home in my care, one grown up) and am solidly part of the United States middle-income category. We don't own a house however, but rent a townhouse. I have lived longer at this address than at any other I have lived at in my whole lifetime. I am a member of Amazon Prime, of Costco, and of Sam's Club. I buy different things at different stores. (I buy a lot more at Sam's Club than at Costco mostly because our local Sam's Club is much more on my way to and from other destinations than the local Costco is.) I don't see anything about the new Jet business venture that appeals to me, but I'll listen to my Facebook friends, other middle-aged parents like me, and see what they think about it. I often talk about deals I've found on Amazon to my friends on Facebook. I hardly ever talk up Costco or Sam's Club.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#22

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…

They'll still lose...I order online like 3 or 4 times a year.

For someone with the online buying habits of a typical consumer from 1999, you sure seem to have a strong opinion about the state of online commerce in 2015.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#23
post #4

Also notable is that Jet.com is using F# as the core language for their backend

It'd be great if they could blog about how F# performs and the benefits of using it. e.g. Fewer bugs, less code... How are things working in practice.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#25
How is a bunch of disparate geographically disjointed retailers going to out-price one massive local Amazon warehouse doing a large volume of local deliveries? Plus I'm already paying prime, which is > $50 membership fee Jet is charging.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#26
Jet sounds pretty disingenuous to me.

"We're basically not making a dime on any of the transactions." - If that's how you really feel then take the word basically out. You are making money off transactions but you would very much like to give the impression you aren't.

Their example of "How Jet Works" involves supposedly wholesale prices that somehow get magically discounted and a shipping arrangement that somehow magically works that, if you pay with a debit card, saves you $6 off your contrived amazon order...

Then it goes into a story about the guy who's starting jet and how he is and always has been a money hungry, cut-throat business man looking to make millions and then sell. Nothing about his "bio" sounds very consumer focused.

Exerpt from the site: "Refer friends to boost your Insider rank. The more friends you refer, the more perks you unlock."

Yeah, no thanks. Costco is consumer focused, amazon is consumer focused, this is money focused and the businessweek piece is a complete puff job.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#27
Saying that Amazon is an e-commerce provider is like saying Microsoft is a hardware company because it sells (good) keyboards. Amazon is positioned to become the biggest distributor of computing power to leverage you to sell a good that Amazon's army of distribution centers and local courier agreements can get to you in as little as a few hours.

Yet-Another-Hyperbole-Filled-Buying-Club is not something I believe Bezos would be scared of. If anyone should be scared, it should be UPS, FedEx, and the USPS. Amazon is much more likely to be coming for them.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#28
I went to the website. Signed up for the insider thing. It said "Share with your friends to be top 100,000 to get access". BYE!

Really? Their strategy to starting a business is making a pyramid scheme?

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#29

Jet sounds pretty disingenuous to me. "We're basically not making a dime on any of the transactions." - If that's how you really feel then take the word basically out. You are making money off transactions but you would very much like to give the impression you aren't. Their example of "How Jet Works" involves supposedly wholesale prices that somehow get magically discounted and a shipping arrangement that somehow ma…

I think the point is that they want to make all of their money off the $50 yearly charge.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#30

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…

There's always room for competition, which, at the end of the day, is good for consumers. Their service(s) might not appeal to you, but it might appeal to the next guy.

Recall what the mobile OS space was when Google launched Android in late 2007? Yep, even Ballmer made fun of the new OS. Today does anybody care about a mobile OS from Microsoft? Sure, we're not talking about the same type of business, but the key is competition, choice.

I remember when Cisco networking devices were virtually the only game in town. Then along came Juniper Networks. Today, Juniper is doing mighty good.

The key to success in a business that's dominated by the proverbial 800-pound gorilla is to find a niche and step in.

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