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Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

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Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure where you live, but in Ontario Amazon delivery trucks outnumber all other delivery trucks combined. Seemingly 50% of every package sitting on anyone's doorstep has the familiar Amazon branded packing tape surrounding it as well. They're definitely dominant.

In Canada, yes - but only because of our awful CBSA, the absurdly low de minimus exception in NAFTA, and the fact that the Canadian retail sector is fat and uncompetitive (and yet Shopify is Canadian??!) Amazon is the only online retailer that’s figured out shipping and the CBSA here. Everyone else is awful. Walmart online ordering is awful. Home Depot is awful. What’s left of toys r us is awful. Canadian Tire online…

That's a bit of hyperbole.

Walmart, Costco, The Bay all did more than a billion in revenue for 2019. Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Best Buy, Home Depot had more than 500 million and less than a billion.

They wouldn't be doing these numbers if the state of e-commerce was as "eye-watering awful" as you make it out to be.

These numbers are for the Canadian market which ended with about 40 billion in total "e-commerce" sales for 2019.

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#22
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure why people think Amazon is such a dominate force on the commerce front, especially with respects to Walarmt. It isn't even close between the two. I am more worried about the cloud technology space being down to basically two choices now.

Not sure where you live, but in Ontario Amazon delivery trucks outnumber all other delivery trucks combined. Seemingly 50% of every package sitting on anyone's doorstep has the familiar Amazon branded packing tape surrounding it as well. They're definitely dominant.

Amazon.ca and Amazon.com accounted for about 10% of all e-commerce sales in Canada for 2019.

I wish i had some stats for the raw # of total packages/shipments, because that's where I think Amazon's marketshare would match the picture of "50% of every package"

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#23
post #11

Dealing with third-party sellers is no fun. Newegg is probably the only major e-commerce website whose search feature can exclude third-party sellers.

I just bought from Newegg for the first time in probably a decade and was surprised to see third-party sellers. I went there specifically because I remembered them being reputable, but came away with a different feeling entirely.

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#24
post #11

Dealing with third-party sellers is no fun. Newegg is probably the only major e-commerce website whose search feature can exclude third-party sellers.

You can do it on Walmart. In fact, I was just about to post that this announcement is a negative for me. I have such a hard time shopping on Amazon these days and tend to try Walmart first but always select Walmart.com from the retailer filter. I don't want to see a bunch of random junk that I have no desire to purchase.

Ah right, it was under the "retailer" filter (was looking for "Seller").

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#25
post #16
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shopify* has three non-merchant-driven discovery channels now: Walmart, Facebook, and their own Shop app. I think Shopify is in a much better bargaining position than Walmart.

Is the Shop app popular? Just heard of this now.

Very popular.

It used to be a popular app called Arrive for automatically tracking packages by parsing tracking numbers from connected email accounts. Arrive was also the branding for shipping updates by check in Shopify Checkout on all Shopify based eCommerce sites.

A few months ago Shopify:

1. Rebranded the app as "Shop"

2. Rebranded every Shopify site's checkout to "Shop Pay."

3. Began forcing users on Shopify based sites to create a "Shop" account at checkout

4. Changed the Arrive SMS shipping updates feature to text you an app store link for the Shop App (which you already have an account for now)

5. Integrated every item from every Shopify based eCommerce site with the Shop App for direct purchase, using the universal Shop account you just created.

So they took an already popular app with high engagement, forced people to make accounts for it, used dark UX patterns to get millions to text themselves a download link.

In a matter of months they went from being one of the largest eCommerce platforms for independent retailers to being a one-stop "shop" for every eCommerce site that used them, with millions of daily active users.

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Canada, yes - but only because of our awful CBSA, the absurdly low de minimus exception in NAFTA, and the fact that the Canadian retail sector is fat and uncompetitive (and yet Shopify is Canadian??!) Amazon is the only online retailer that’s figured out shipping and the CBSA here. Everyone else is awful. Walmart online ordering is awful. Home Depot is awful. What’s left of toys r us is awful. Canadian Tire online…

That's a bit of hyperbole. Walmart, Costco, The Bay all did more than a billion in revenue for 2019. Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Best Buy, Home Depot had more than 500 million and less than a billion. They wouldn't be doing these numbers if the state of e-commerce was as "eye-watering awful" as you make it out to be. These numbers are for the Canadian market which ended with about 40 billion in total "e-commerce" sale…

Online? Those are all great retailers in-store. But online? That’s their online revenue? I doubt it.

Home Depot advertises 2 day shipping but then waits a week before actually starting the clock on their shipping. At least here in Canada. Walmart is the same.

Let me tell you about ordering from Canadian tire online. I did this once. I chose in-store pickup. When I got to the service desk (which actually had an “online pickup” sign on it), and asked for my order, the staff looked at me like I was from Mars. And this was a showcase-store on Grandview here in Vancouver - not some backwater CDN tire off in Moose Jaw. Then they discovered that actually, they don’t have that item. The website said my order was ready to pick up, but they didn’t have it set aside and they didn’t even stock it and had no idea how this “online pickup” worked. So I asked for a refund. And they couldn’t do it! It’s a separate company and they didn’t even have my order in their system to be able to refund me! I asked them what I was supposed to do at that point, and the store manager (of the largest CDN tire store in vancouver) actually advised me to dispute the charge on my credit card and get the charge reversed!

That’s eye-wateringly bad.

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#27
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the Shop app popular? Just heard of this now.

Very popular. It used to be a popular app called Arrive for automatically tracking packages by parsing tracking numbers from connected email accounts. Arrive was also the branding for shipping updates by check in Shopify Checkout on all Shopify based eCommerce sites. A few months ago Shopify: 1. Rebranded the app as "Shop" 2. Rebranded every Shopify site's checkout to "Shop Pay." 3. Began forcing users on Shopify bas…

Shipping updates by text (SMS)

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#28
Shopify clearly announced its intentions when it went ahead with Google Cloud couple years back and the bets placed are lining up pretty nicely with recent partnerships with Facebook and now Walmart. Although it also begs the question if Walmart's discontinuance of Jet.com might have prompted this deal? [1]

1. https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/19/walmart-says-it-will-disco...

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#29
post #11

Dealing with third-party sellers is no fun. Newegg is probably the only major e-commerce website whose search feature can exclude third-party sellers.

I just ordered a product on walmart.com that arrived in a Newegg box. When looked on Newegg I didn't see the product.

So no idea what is happening but makes me think there are lots of sellers shipping from different locations potentially for competing sites.

Re: Shopify goes after Amazon with new Walmart deal

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit of hyperbole. Walmart, Costco, The Bay all did more than a billion in revenue for 2019. Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Best Buy, Home Depot had more than 500 million and less than a billion. They wouldn't be doing these numbers if the state of e-commerce was as "eye-watering awful" as you make it out to be. These numbers are for the Canadian market which ended with about 40 billion in total "e-commerce" sale…

Online? Those are all great retailers in-store. But online? That’s their online revenue? I doubt it. Home Depot advertises 2 day shipping but then waits a week before actually starting the clock on their shipping. At least here in Canada. Walmart is the same. Let me tell you about ordering from Canadian tire online. I did this once. I chose in-store pickup. When I got to the service desk (which actually had an “onlin…

Yes, that was their online sales revenue in 2019, unless you think giants like Wal Mart (with nearly 400 supercenter stores in Canada) and Costco are doing only 1 billion in brick and mortar sales.

These numbers are readily available in their financial statements (Wal Mart doesn't separate out Wal Mart Canada's numbers - I happen to be in the industry.

Your Canadian Tire anecdote sounds unbelievable unless it was many years ago.

Canadian Tire is one of the few Canadian stores in 2020 where can check store stock/inventory online down to the aisle of the store. They had already started implementing pickup lockers in their store before covid.

I've placed a few online orders with them and have never had any issues (including in store pickup). FYI, they did close to $600 million in e-commerce sales in 2019.

Walmart, Loblaws, etc process same day grocery pickup online (and they did this before the pandemic).

The Canadian e-commerce experience is not some backwater that you proclaim it to be.

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