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Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

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Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#481

Post by mandeepj »

paxys wrote: post #86

The core issue is that Amazon envisioned Alexa as a product that would help it increase sales. Smart home features were always an afterthought. How convenient would it be if people could shout "Alexa order me Tide Pods" from wherever they were in their home and the order got magically processed? That demo definitely got applause from a boardroom full of execs. The problem is that consumers don't behave like that. Thi…

> The core issue is that Amazon envisioned Alexa as a product that would help it increase sales.

Exactly why Amazon Fire phone failed. So, they didn't learn their lesson. What happened to their leadership principles, specifically - Customer Obsession: Leaders start with the customer and work backwards?

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#482

Post by dambi0 »

tempest_ wrote: post #477
dambi0 wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Restaurants?

Often give or display a menu with prices.

Often or always? Is reading a generic description of a product (menu) seeing the thing?

What about alcoholic drinks in pubs or bars “2 pints of your best and a glass of house red”.

Alexa may not be great for purchasing from Amazon but this isn’t because humans have never shopped using only their voices. Nor is seeing things required.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#483

Post by __float »

derefr wrote: post #409
crazygringo wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This a million times. I swear I will never understand why Amazon's supply, organization, and pricing for household goods is such a disaster. Because their experience for mainstream books is mostly perfectly fine -- there's a single listing for each book, and the price doesn't change much, just some discount from list. It works. But for things like paper towels or Tide or whatever, it's utter chaos. Multiple listings…

Nothing on Amazon is going to work like books on Amazon do. Amazon is, originally and primarily, a bookstore. Amazon has long-established direct contracts with all book publishers (and in fact, a stranglehold over those publishers.) Any time you see a book listed on Amazon, it's a book sold by Amazon, attained directly from one of these publishers. AFAIK no third-party sellers are even allowed to sell "books" Fulfill…

I've gotten both novels and textbooks from Amazon that I'm not certain aren't counterfeits. (The textbook one is especially fuzzy, as sometimes you'll actually get an "international edition" which isn't necessarily fake...but may not be what you actually ordered either.)

These days, I'm not sure books are much different from any other good.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#484

Post by conductr »

swatcoder wrote: post #100
paxys wrote: post #86

The core issue is that Amazon envisioned Alexa as a product that would help it increase sales. Smart home features were always an afterthought. How convenient would it be if people could shout "Alexa order me Tide Pods" from wherever they were in their home and the order got magically processed? That demo definitely got applause from a boardroom full of execs. The problem is that consumers don't behave like that. Thi…

> I always want to see a page with the product details and price before I click "buy". Reducing the number of clicks is not going to make me change my decision. This is compounded by the multi-headed monster that large orgs like theirs have no choice but to become. If customers could trust that every day essentials had a relatively stable price and availability pattern like they trust from their local grocery store (…

The added dynamic of Amazon is they might not even be Tide pods but some counterfeit or perhaps a batch that didn’t pass quality control to sell in more traditional brick and mortar.

My latest in a long list of WTF was I ordered a medical device (new). It came in a package that had once been sealed but the seal was cut. Upon removing the product, it had clearly been used by someone and returned. It was a sling for my arm, and I intend to use it for 2-3 weeks until things feel better but I wouldn’t return it like the last person did. I returned it immediately. I’m not accepting open box items of that nature.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#485

Post by [deleted] »

sebastiennight wrote: post #426
chowells wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's irrelevant. Give me the total price, so I know how much something will cost. I don't care what percentage of it goes where. I only care about easily evaluating whether something is worth the price. Seriously. I don't care if the total price consists of 100% tax or 0% tax. I care only what it is. I don't ask to know how much you pay the cleaners, how much it costs to operate the pool, how much corporate profit…

Looks like I'm not the only European that has seen a price tag of $9.50 on a product I wanted, only to find out that the $10 bill in my pocket was only two thirds of the amount needed! Look at us poor Europeans with our metric-system money-math

[deleted]

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#486

Post by msy »

paxys wrote: post #86

The core issue is that Amazon envisioned Alexa as a product that would help it increase sales. Smart home features were always an afterthought. How convenient would it be if people could shout "Alexa order me Tide Pods" from wherever they were in their home and the order got magically processed? That demo definitely got applause from a boardroom full of execs. The problem is that consumers don't behave like that. Thi…

It would've worked if Amazon hadn't turned their store into a cesspit of fakes, random 3rd parties sellers and arbitrary pricing. At this point if I pressed one of those buttons I'd have zero confidence in what might turn up. If Costco or the like had those buttons that would add it to a regular delivery I'd plaster the house with them.

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#487

Post by Electricniko »

UberFly wrote: post #322
sa46 wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, there is an app, Chatterbaby [1], that claims to detect why a baby is crying based on the acoustic features of the cry. I've used it with middling success. That'd be a neat integration: "Alexa, why is my baby crying?" [1]: https://www.chatterbaby.org/pages/ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41390-019-0592-4

"Your baby is crying because it doesn't like the brand of formula you purchase. We recommend Amazon Basics!"

"Your baby is crying because you often raise your voice and make unreasonable demands of those around you. Would you like to add insurance for a lifetime of psychiatric help to your cart?"

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#488

Post by amzsdmthrowaway »

paxys wrote: post #86

The core issue is that Amazon envisioned Alexa as a product that would help it increase sales. Smart home features were always an afterthought. How convenient would it be if people could shout "Alexa order me Tide Pods" from wherever they were in their home and the order got magically processed? That demo definitely got applause from a boardroom full of execs. The problem is that consumers don't behave like that. Thi…

If that's true, I don't get it is Amazon being metrics driven company didn't see the pattern Alexa is not being used for ordering or orders from Alexa devices is pretty insignificant? Even in 10 years?

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#489

Post by conductr »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #465
Spooky23 wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t be baffled… “worlds largest selection” pivoted to worlds largest fence. Financially, the third party product is better for Amazon (no inventory - the third party stuff is a revenue generator!) How exactly does Spooky23 have the buying power to price competitively with a major retailer? The answer is pretty obvious. It’s cheaper to pay crackheads to loot CVS than to troll for clearance blowouts.

> It’s cheaper to pay crackheads to loot CVS than to troll for clearance blowouts. Is that where all the crazy stuff on Amazon is coming from?

Probably not all but it’s well known they’re just stealing consumer durables because they’re easy to convert to cash

Re: Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions

#490

Post by [deleted] »

chowells wrote: post #421
WalterBright wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tax exclusive prices lets you know how much the government is soaking you, rather than hiding it and blaming it on the business.

That's irrelevant. Give me the total price, so I know how much something will cost. I don't care what percentage of it goes where. I only care about easily evaluating whether something is worth the price. Seriously. I don't care if the total price consists of 100% tax or 0% tax. I care only what it is. I don't ask to know how much you pay the cleaners, how much it costs to operate the pool, how much corporate profit…

[deleted]
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