Live data from Hacker News

Amazon vs. Jet.com

businessweek.com

41–50 of 56 posts

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#41
post #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…

> Yep, even Ballmer made fun of the new OS

Well Ballmer also made fun of the iPhone when it first came out. Best not attach too much weight to his opinions.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#42
Amazon will kick their ass on logistics. Amazon already does most of the bundling, dynamic pricing, discounts for slower shipping and other tricks that jet.com mentions. Amazon will also kick their ass in pricing (that's what they did to diapers.com).

They only real viable option is to have products that Amazon doesn't have, but citing Sears as a key early partner doesn't really bode much hope in that dept.

They'll also need to burn insane amounts of cash on marketing and customer acquisition to get people to pay for subscriptions (which they say is their only source of revenue). This at a time when VCs appetite for startups burning cash like crazy is starting to come back to reality...

If there are investors are willing to set piles of cash on fire poke Amazon in the side then I'm happy to watch such a blood sport, but the business plan and concept at this point seems rather weak.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#43
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"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." A website, such as jet.com is out of "sight out of mind". Unless it becomes a habit (like Amazon has for many people including me). Costco has several advantages over a jet.com. And the Devil is in the details in terms of what made Costco a success. 1) It's not out of si…

> Once you are in the store they get you to buy things that you didn't think that you needed.

Yup, I typically got to Costco with one maybe two things in mind, and rarely leave with less than $250 in my cart, and I'm usually one of the lightest carts I see checking out. And it's not things you need, it's things you want. I love Costco.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#44
Finally! If Jet.com doesn't charge amazon style fees this means I can mark my products down by 25-50% ! and still make the same profit as I do on Amazon. Amazon fees are massive even without the penny pricing snag. Here's mine: http://i3.minus.com/i0tJucuLy5zPB.jpg

When Jet opens up to small sellers I'll be the first in line. Hopefully consumers will notice the big price differences and buy a membership.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#45
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"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." A website, such as jet.com is out of "sight out of mind". Unless it becomes a habit (like Amazon has for many people including me). Costco has several advantages over a jet.com. And the Devil is in the details in terms of what made Costco a success. 1) It's not out of si…

#2 and #3 are explicitly points being addressed by jet.com.

Re #2: The entire Jet model is the more you buy the more you save. Taking the baseball example, it's pretty easy to infer when they see you are buying cleats and a glove that they will up-sell you with a bat as well and call out the bundle discount you will receive.

Re #3: The article explicitly discusses that the founder is trying to create an "anti-Amazon" culture that values people and relationships. You can agree or disagree with this approach, but you can;t deny they are actively trying to promote a great culture to work in (no performance reviews, for example).

This is not to say that Jet.com is going to nail it, but you can't dismiss Jet.com's efforts here out of hand either.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#46

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?

Isn't this just the same as, "share with your friends to get a better place in our waiting list" that others have employed. I remember Robinhood doing this and wondered if it really moved my place or was simply a growth hack lie.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#47

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…

There was a delay before it served me my number, so I saw the same for a bit. I was rather confused myself.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#49

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…

Amazon is being challenged to make money, and they are doing that by slashing the expensive part of prime (shipping) and throwing in plums like streaming media and cloud storage. I order online from Amazon 5-6 times a month. I've had more shipping delays and misses over the last three months than I've had in the last 3 years. IMO, Prime is dying -- they wouldn't be talking about entering capital intensive businesses…

Me too -- I've had stuff from prime not even ship for a week more than once recently. Amazon is losing their focus, edge or whatever. I don't care about prime movies, prime music, or prime anything other than prime reliable fast shipping.

Re: Amazon vs. Jet.com

#50

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…

If you buy online only 3 or 4 times a year why do you pay for prime? You seem to already pay $95/year to shave a few percentage points off your bill.
Post reply on HN