People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart • Hacker News Board

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#41

Post by silisili » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:35 PM UTC

tangoed wrote: post #35

silisili wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walmart is getting better, but still way behind on the web front. They'll show you things in stock, then tell you it's out of stock upon checkout. Go back to product page, shows in stock again. They also use way, way too many captchas. Lastly, they divide walmart.com from walmart pickup and delivery for no reason. Some things you order on the .com side are only 'shippable' if your local store has it. So, it's pickup…

The Walmart.com and pickup/delivery division on their website is not a thing anymore. They seem to be testing a new beta version of the website, and I got to try it yesterday. I have Walmart plus and this is how it went: One seamless search option, no pickup/delivery and Walmart.com options. I added everything, including groceries and other non groceries to my cart. I selected delivery. Some items were not available…

That's great to hear - thanks for sharing. I'm also a plus member, but I guess not in the beta. The app and website both still segregate the two.

How you describe it working is exactly how I've always wished it would work. Glad to hear it.

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#42

Post by yann2 » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:35 PM UTC

zamadatix wrote: post #5

yann2 wrote: post #4

Long way to go on revenues - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_in...

According to the page those numbers refer to FY 2019 or FY 2020. Per the second paragraph of TFA for the last 12 months Amazon has an estimated 610 billion in sales (which are part of revenue), not FY aligned. This actually lines up pretty closely to just naively expanding the y/y growth rate on the page you linked over time. In reality it slightly outperformed that.

Walmart is ahead of Amazon by some 60B in q1 q2 rev and its increasing as covid effect/ecom sales start dropping. They will easily be ahead 100-120B ahead at the end of the year. Amazon cant touch those number any time soon unless covid suddenly surges and lockdowns restart. People are sick of sitting at home and going to Walmart is entertainment for a large segment of the population.

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#43

Post by coding123 » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:36 PM UTC

silisili wrote: post #6

Grakel wrote: post #3

The article doesn't mention Walmart's website, which has become very good and widely used, especially as a more trustworthy source for real products than Amazon.com. Also the article is worded as if Walmart is in decline- the future is bright for both of these companies, not that anyone is concerned.

Walmart is getting better, but still way behind on the web front. They'll show you things in stock, then tell you it's out of stock upon checkout. Go back to product page, shows in stock again. They also use way, way too many captchas. Lastly, they divide walmart.com from walmart pickup and delivery for no reason. Some things you order on the .com side are only 'shippable' if your local store has it. So, it's pickup…

Oh, another example of that local vs distant store thing is that it's kinda up to the store. You may order a BROWN blanket, but your local store is somehow notified and they go, OH I HAVE THAT BLANKET! And then they switch you from it being delivered from far away to having some guy that's getting off work that lives near you drop it off. And then you open it up and it's that BLUE blanket you already saw locally and didn't want!!!!!

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#44

Post by 1-6 » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:41 PM UTC

_huayra_ wrote: post #37

Is there a better way than google shopping to find deals across sites for products? I try to avoid using Amazon out of practical (e.g. products often being cheaper elsewhere, often have less worry about getting some SKU-identical knockoff that amazon absorbed from some FBA hack) and sometimes ideological (a CEO who rides a particularly phallic rocket into space and then gloats about it while his employees are treated…

Slickdeals, CamelCamelCamel

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#45

Post by wombat-man » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:41 PM UTC

_huayra_ wrote: post #37

Is there a better way than google shopping to find deals across sites for products? I try to avoid using Amazon out of practical (e.g. products often being cheaper elsewhere, often have less worry about getting some SKU-identical knockoff that amazon absorbed from some FBA hack) and sometimes ideological (a CEO who rides a particularly phallic rocket into space and then gloats about it while his employees are treated…

I kinda gave up on amazon too at this point.

I'm at the point where I trust a few stores to not sell me bogus stuff. Target, Walmart, Costco, REI. All are good. Yes I know walmart and target have 3rd party sellers, just don't buy from those.

I am okay with paying a little more, or getting a slightly worse deal to get something I know is "genuine" or well made. Especially if I plan on putting it in/on my body.

I know ethically walmart isn't way better. But afaik they still have old fashioned relationships with their product sourcers. Meaning they're probably buying all their cereals/foods directly from manufacturers, for example.

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#46

Post by wisemanwillhear » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

silisili wrote: post #6

Grakel wrote: post #3

The article doesn't mention Walmart's website, which has become very good and widely used, especially as a more trustworthy source for real products than Amazon.com. Also the article is worded as if Walmart is in decline- the future is bright for both of these companies, not that anyone is concerned.

Walmart is getting better, but still way behind on the web front. They'll show you things in stock, then tell you it's out of stock upon checkout. Go back to product page, shows in stock again. They also use way, way too many captchas. Lastly, they divide walmart.com from walmart pickup and delivery for no reason. Some things you order on the .com side are only 'shippable' if your local store has it. So, it's pickup…

> Walmart is getting better, but still way behind on the web front. They'll show you things in stock, then tell you it's out of stock upon checkout. Go back to product page, shows in stock again.

2 weeks ago I added a Logitech mouse to my cart which Amazon claimed would arrive in 2 days per the product page. Upon checkout I was informed that it was unavailable to ship and I would get an e-mail when they knew it would ship. Going back to the product page and refreshing the 2 day promised arrival date was still there. It arrived 6 days later. Seems like Amazon has similar problems.

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#47

Post by lotsofpulp » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

dave5104 wrote: post #38

meragrin_ wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon still has one too. It is just harder and harder to get to the point were you are presented the option which might explain why people now spend more time at Amazon.

I thought the problem with that was even if you chose to "buy" a product from Amazon, if a 3rd party seller is using Amazon's warehousing, Amazon intermingles products that they source themselves and from the 3rd party? So, you could be getting a product sourced by Amazon, or you could be getting a product sourced by a 3rd party.

That is also a problem, and they used to have the commingling fact displayed in an easy to find place on their website, but now that is hidden somewhere, or removed from what I can tell.

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#48

Post by sokoloff » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:52 PM UTC

spaetzleesser wrote: post #23

nerfhammer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I appreciate about home depot's web site: they'll tell you not only whether the item is in stock, but exactly where in a given store it's located

And most importantly they have only one listing for the same item. In Amazon and Walmart you have multiple listings of the same product by different sellers at different prices. In Amazon it's really annoying to see several pages of basically the same product.

Amazon tries to coalesce these pages together in a single product-detail page with multiple offers. Sellers frequently try to avoid this coalescing (because otherwise, they're only competing on price). This could be as simple as pad printing a meaningless 5-6 character brand onto the product [making it technically different] or by making the description slightly different.

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#49

Post by sokoloff » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

overtonwhy wrote: post #28

Ethically they're the same and I boycott both and encourage everyone else to do the same. Vote with your money for how you want the world to work.

I want well-priced consumer goods, broad selection, and fast/easy logistics. I do vote with my wallet and Amazon earns a lot of share of it.

Re: People Now Spend More at Amazon Than at Walmart

#50

Post by swiley » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

_huayra_ wrote: post #37

Is there a better way than google shopping to find deals across sites for products? I try to avoid using Amazon out of practical (e.g. products often being cheaper elsewhere, often have less worry about getting some SKU-identical knockoff that amazon absorbed from some FBA hack) and sometimes ideological (a CEO who rides a particularly phallic rocket into space and then gloats about it while his employees are treated…

IMO: like most of the web it's about accumulating bookmarks.

Newegg is really great for electronics in general

Sparkfun/mouser/adafruit is great for hobbiest parts.

For specific niche stuff check your favorite forums.