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Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says

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Re: Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says

#32

Post by aaronbrethorst »

BendertheRobot wrote: post #26

This would mean sales tax in all 50 states for amazon purchases.

They currently collect sales tax in 24 states[1,2], and I'm guessing the writing is on the wall in the other 26. I don't know if there's any truth to this Radio Shack rumor, but I'd expect that avoiding tax nexus status probably isn't as big a deal for them as it used to be, because they're going to be forced to do soon, one way or another.

[1] http://ilsr.org/rule/states-amazon-sales-tax-map/

[2] http://blog.taxjar.com/michigan-sales-tax-nexus-law/

Re: Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says

#33

Post by baddox »

bastian wrote: post #28

I'm pretty sure that Amazon will use the best positioned stores as forward stocking locations. They experimented with a similar concept at WebVan i believe. I also think they now realize that what Postmates and Instacart are doing today (using the city as a warehouse) is actually working and can be attractive to customers.

My initial impression is that Radio Shack stores are too small to be used primarily for stocking.

Re: Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says

#34

Post by pasbesoin »

So, AmAShack or Radiozon?

I'm not sure I see the logic/advantage of taking over existing RadioShack locations as opposed to just making real estate decisions based upon Amazon's own requirements.

A select subset of their stores might be quite select (and limited in number).

Re: Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says

#36

Post by pbreit »

bastian wrote: post #28

I'm pretty sure that Amazon will use the best positioned stores as forward stocking locations. They experimented with a similar concept at WebVan i believe. I also think they now realize that what Postmates and Instacart are doing today (using the city as a warehouse) is actually working and can be attractive to customers.

Wouldn't one cheap warehouse in the city(ies) suffice?

Re: Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says

#38

Post by pbreit »

Spooky23 wrote: post #7

Sounds fishy to me. Radio Shack tends to have old leases in 2nd tier shopping centers. Why would they buy a marginal retailer with poor footprint, when you could just lease stores yourself? There was a time when getting space in malls and strip shopping centers was tough. This isn't one of those times.

They might be close to free and that sounds like a decent overlap with amazons low prices.

Re: Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says

#40

Post by bastian »

pbreit wrote: post #36
bastian wrote: post #28

I'm pretty sure that Amazon will use the best positioned stores as forward stocking locations. They experimented with a similar concept at WebVan i believe. I also think they now realize that what Postmates and Instacart are doing today (using the city as a warehouse) is actually working and can be attractive to customers.

Wouldn't one cheap warehouse in the city(ies) suffice?

I can only talk about our (Postmates) experience but having multiple pickup and drop-off locations increases the efficiency of a fleet dramatically. In larger cities like New York, LA, etc. multiple warehouses are a huge advantage. Off course i'm mostly referring to on-demand or same day deliveries here.

Maybe i should add some more color here. If you think in terms of traditional delivery, one warehouse is enough. But i'm not sure that this paradigm (one van drives to a warehouse, collects a bunch of stuff and delivers it), is what works best for on-demand, 2-hour or same day deliveries. Multiple, fast and easy to reach pickup locations are an advantage at scale. Especially for deliveries where minutes matter.

Ultimately, we will probably see a combination of both.

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