Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats • Hacker News Board

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#361

Post by Spooky23 » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 2:36 AM UTC

specialist wrote: post #321

eloff wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not third party sellers, it's comingling inventory from third party sellers. That breaks the reviews / reputation as a way to check, and it means if there's even one bad egg, even if I buy from Amazon itself, I can still get the wrong product.

It seems to me Amazon's comingling is bad for competition. Players on their platform, not between Amazon and others. Have any of the regulators taken note? I've been reading Congress' anti-trust research and reports. Haven't seen this called out yet.

Legal thinking shifted towards a price focused for all things antitrust. You can be a monopolist, as long as you don’t quickly raise prices. That’s why 3 companies control 90% of meat packing.

Companies like Amazon are carefully engineered to avoid that type of enforcement action. Nothing will happen until you have a major political shift - I’d guess somewhere around 2035-2045 when demographics shift the political dynamic in the US.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#362

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 4:21 AM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #350

Biganon wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The machines weigh stuff? I don't understand that. Here in Switzerland you just scan the barcode of every item and place it in a bag, done. What is there to weigh? Also recently I started using what I guess is the Swiss (Coop) equivalent of Scan and Go: I scan with my phone in the aisles, but stuff in my bag directly in the aisles as well, and when I leave the list of items I've taken is transmitted to a classic self…

The big bagging area will be one big scale. It's not that big of a deal when programmed correctly. You can place your own bags on it too (but there's usually a button you have to press so it tares it correctly). The scanning area will have it owns weight sensor for unweighed fruits and vegetables. This scale is usually calibrated/verified by a government body because it relates to pricing. In Europe, it's common to b…

I guess the Walmarts near me are different. I just scan stuff and I can either bag it on the platform or put it straight into my cart. The portable barcode scanner means I don't need to take the 50lb bag of dog food out of the cart either. There's no special aisle to exit, you just leave the regular way.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#363

Post by Scoundreller » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 9:37 AM UTC

treeman79 wrote: post #351

Scoundreller wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorta. Took them a while to turn it off criminal mode. Wasn’t long ago you had to bag an item before you could scan the next. But I have more than 1 hand. Sometimes multiple people. French ones still run in criminal mode.

Oh the anxiety of having kids and those. Every single bump set it off and required someone to come over. More then a few carts got left half unloaded.

I’ve had a large person on the other side leaning on it and set it off…

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#364

Post by Scoundreller » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 10:11 AM UTC

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #362

Scoundreller wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big bagging area will be one big scale. It's not that big of a deal when programmed correctly. You can place your own bags on it too (but there's usually a button you have to press so it tares it correctly). The scanning area will have it owns weight sensor for unweighed fruits and vegetables. This scale is usually calibrated/verified by a government body because it relates to pricing. In Europe, it's common to b…

I guess the Walmarts near me are different. I just scan stuff and I can either bag it on the platform or put it straight into my cart. The portable barcode scanner means I don't need to take the 50lb bag of dog food out of the cart either. There's no special aisle to exit, you just leave the regular way.

The special aisle is for this system where you scan items as you take them off the shelf.

Checkout-as-you-go instead of filling your cart and checking out at the end.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#365

Post by lolsal » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

quickthrowman wrote: post #24

lolsal wrote: post #7

The biggest thing keeping me from shopping at Walmart is their anti-competitive and predatory behavior and the way they treat their employees and vendors. Nothing else really matters to me regarding Walmart. There's no subscription service that would get me to shop at Walmart more than I do today (which is zero). There's no competitor that could decline in such a way that I would shop at Walmart. I know many in my so…

There are no ethical global multinational companies, sorry to burst your bubble. Every other giant retailer is doing the same to employees, vendors, etc.

What makes you think I live in a bubble regarding large retail companies?

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#366

Post by lolsal » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 2:51 PM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #73

lolsal wrote: post #7

The biggest thing keeping me from shopping at Walmart is their anti-competitive and predatory behavior and the way they treat their employees and vendors. Nothing else really matters to me regarding Walmart. There's no subscription service that would get me to shop at Walmart more than I do today (which is zero). There's no competitor that could decline in such a way that I would shop at Walmart. I know many in my so…

Where do you shop that isn't roughly as bad on at least one if those factors?

The same places people shopped before large internet retails became the norm - locally owned and operated places.

I am very fortunate that I have the opportunity and means to vote this way with my wallet; many people don't.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#367

Post by lolsal » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 3:08 PM UTC

grillvogel wrote: post #21

lolsal wrote: post #7

The biggest thing keeping me from shopping at Walmart is their anti-competitive and predatory behavior and the way they treat their employees and vendors. Nothing else really matters to me regarding Walmart. There's no subscription service that would get me to shop at Walmart more than I do today (which is zero). There's no competitor that could decline in such a way that I would shop at Walmart. I know many in my so…

do you shop at amazon or target?

No.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#368

Post by anonu » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 7:05 PM UTC

I think that over time the things these companies need to be successful, vertical integration across concepts like web, mobile, e-commerce, logistics, shipping, personal shopper, curbside pickup, etc etc... Is all going to be fragmented and broken up into it's component pieces. Instacart started the trend in a big way and Shopify is also part of this "disaggregation" framework...

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#369

Post by cptskippy » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

tartoran wrote: post #142

cptskippy wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. If you know their history then you understand how they got where they are. Walmart grew in the 80s and 90s by planting itself just outside the city limits of small towns across America. They attracted the towns people with low prices and jobs. Their presence eventually shutdown every competing small business in those towns and the former purveyors of those businesses often wou…

Amazon followed their path and they also started to have issue: with their image.

I am not sure I agree. Amazon is differently bad but I would say mostly competes with big box stores.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#370

Post by anonu » Sun, Jun 06, 2021, 7:12 PM UTC

frankish wrote: post #327

rsuelzer wrote: post #152

I avoid Walmart because of their absolutely terrible treatment of their employees, the fact the have failed to provide decent wages or benefits for their workers, drove a race to the bottom in retail and did this almost entirely to the benefit of five children who were lucky to be born with the last name Walton and are now the richest family in America. The corporation is seared in my mind as the ugliest side of Amer…

To your point, Dan Price recently posted some related stats and perspective: > Minimum wage > Costco: $16 > Walmart: $11 > > Average pay > Costco: $24 > Walmart: $15 > > Employees on food stamps (subsidized by you) > Costco: Virtually none > Walmart: More than any other company > > Founder net worth > Costco: not a billionaire > Walmart: $220+ billion; up $30 billion in the pandemic > > Both companies have similar bu…

Those numbers are pretty stark. But the missing part of the equation here is the customer. How much value has been created for them by driving prices down? I'm not suggesting it's a good thing to underpay employees. I'm only saying let's get a full view of the landscape to be informed...