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Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

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Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#51

Post by yellowstuff »

mooreds wrote: post #24

It's hard for me to see how this doesn't hurt local vendors badly. Of course, it depends on what the the 25,000 items are, but that was one of the key differentiators between Amazon and local stores--if you needed something and you needed it now, the local store was the only option (things like cabling for a new TV, gifts for a party that night, etc). Now, for prime members in NYC at least, Amazon is a viable option.…

You missed customer service, a huge one for me. I actively try to avoid brick and mortar shopping ever since a hardware store owner refused to take back a defective stud finder. Amazon will bend over backwards to make things right for a customer, and accepts returns for any reason.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#53

Post by wlesieutre »

stronglikedan wrote: post #48
morgante wrote: post #43

I just placed an order with this new service (some HDMI cables for our office). The selection is pretty decent, definitely comparable to Google Shopping Express. One very odd note though: they ask for a variable tip to the delivery courier (something Google doesn't do). So even for "free" 2 hour delivery, you're paying for delivery. While I see how this is better for the courier, I think it's a big mistake—people hat…

There's a pizza chain that does this for online orders, and it drives me crazy. I don't tip until after service is rendered, because tipping ahead of time insures nothing. There's no place to put a custom note on the order either, so I have to order by phone. It's good for them that they have great pizza, because I'm sure this turns off a lot of potential customers, but not me.

I suspect that when I tip online for pizza it automatically gets bumped to the lowest priority of all of the driver's deliveries. He already has my money, and prioritizing all of the cash-tip orders over mine gives more potential for earning tips.

Of course, my sample size is too small to say anything conclusive. After it felt like I was noticing a pattern a couple of times I just switched back to tipping cash.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#54

Post by 5555624 »

darkmighty wrote: post #45
mooreds wrote: post #24

It's hard for me to see how this doesn't hurt local vendors badly. Of course, it depends on what the the 25,000 items are, but that was one of the key differentiators between Amazon and local stores--if you needed something and you needed it now, the local store was the only option (things like cabling for a new TV, gifts for a party that night, etc). Now, for prime members in NYC at least, Amazon is a viable option.…

I'd dispute both cost and knowledge. If a store is close to your commute route, for example, the delivery costs will probably never be low enough to match with that. I would also dispute on knowledge. In this case, knowledge is a matter of time: you can always google exactly the product you need, but that's going to cost you time. If you're not sure about the exact specifications of what you need, reading reviews isn…

>If a store is close to your commute route, for example, the delivery costs will probably never be low enough to match with that.

I think it's not if it is "close," but if it's "convenient" to your commute route -- in terms of location and/or commuting method. If I am in NYC and I need to get off the subway, walk a half block, get the item, and then walk back and get not he subway; I might not want to do it, depending on the item. If I'm somewhere where I'm driving my commute, I might not think twice of driving five minutes out of my way and I can pick up almost anything. If I'm riding my bike to commute, I might easily be able to stop, but I might not be able to carry it.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#55

Post by _delirium »

5555624 wrote: post #54
darkmighty wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd dispute both cost and knowledge. If a store is close to your commute route, for example, the delivery costs will probably never be low enough to match with that. I would also dispute on knowledge. In this case, knowledge is a matter of time: you can always google exactly the product you need, but that's going to cost you time. If you're not sure about the exact specifications of what you need, reading reviews isn…

>If a store is close to your commute route, for example, the delivery costs will probably never be low enough to match with that. I think it's not if it is "close," but if it's "convenient" to your commute route -- in terms of location and/or commuting method. If I am in NYC and I need to get off the subway, walk a half block, get the item, and then walk back and get not he subway; I might not want to do it, dependin…

> If I'm riding my bike to commute, I might easily be able to stop, but I might not be able to carry it.

You could get one of these: http://www.christianiabikes.com/en/ :)

I see a lot of then in Copenhagen these days. Mostly families though, since they use them to carry both kids and shopping. Also probably requires a certain infrastructure to work; you wouldn't want to ride one of those in traffic (esp. with kids), only in dedicated bike lanes.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#56

Post by sillysaurus3 »

philwelch wrote: post #41
dkrich wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does the local store win on? I think in the long-run, it'll be price. Sure, in the short-term, Amazon can do what they do and undercut on price, but in the modern age, Wal-Mart has pretty much figured out the optimal model of inventory storage/distribution and the model of keeping inventory on-hand and having customers come to them enables them to do this at an incredibly large scale and at razor-thin margins. Y…

Wal-Mart has the downside that you have to go to Wal-Mart though. I don't just mean that in the dismissive sense that their stores are unpleasant (which they are), but there's a fundamental mismatch between an urbanizing population and a big box store in the suburbs that everyone has to drive to and lose their car in a massive parking lot. In fact, Sam Walton knew this. His mission wasn't to dominate the world of ret…

there's a fundamental mismatch between an urbanizing population and a big box store in the suburbs that everyone has to drive to and lose their car in a massive parking lot.

There are Wal-Marts all over big cities, though. Public transit takes you to them.

Amazon's new service is more expensive than public transit. Also, you also don't get any exercise when using it, whereas many people like going out for a walk. That's a minor point though.

It's probably more accurate to say "There's a mismatch between Wal-Mart and San Francisco." Possibly cultural.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#57

Post by function_seven »

smackfu wrote: post #15
mrfusion wrote: post #8

Wouldn't four hours or anything same day be just as good? Why not save some costs there?

I think most purchases break down into "I need it now" vs. "I need it in a day or two." Currently, Amazon can't get the first category, so it's served by local stores. And four-hour or same-day delivery doesn't really address that market either.

Actaully, I often need something "before tomorrow". Unless I wait until 9PM to realize that, a four-hour delivery time would be perfect for me.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#58

Post by bpeebles »

wlesieutre wrote: post #53
stronglikedan wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a pizza chain that does this for online orders, and it drives me crazy. I don't tip until after service is rendered, because tipping ahead of time insures nothing. There's no place to put a custom note on the order either, so I have to order by phone. It's good for them that they have great pizza, because I'm sure this turns off a lot of potential customers, but not me.

I suspect that when I tip online for pizza it automatically gets bumped to the lowest priority of all of the driver's deliveries. He already has my money, and prioritizing all of the cash-tip orders over mine gives more potential for earning tips. Of course, my sample size is too small to say anything conclusive. After it felt like I was noticing a pattern a couple of times I just switched back to tipping cash.

When I've tipped online for pizza, and tip pretty well, I tend to get my pizza very quickly with a driver wanting to please me (like one time an order was messed up slightly and he immediately drove back and brought a new one without me even asking).

My vague guess is that if you leave an above-average tip on an online order, the order gets immediately grabbed my a delivery person since they know they'll get at least that much of a tip.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#59

Post by lotharbot »

nateberkopec wrote: post #23

This headline could've read: "Amazon relaunches Webvan". Very interesting how ideas from the first bubble re: brick-and-mortar are coming back.

Webvan wasn't the first ever grocery delivery service. Their failure doesn't make in non-viable, it just means they didn't do it in a viable way.

I still see the dairy truck and the Schwan's truck in my neighborhood from time to time. They're not exactly the same thing, but they've proven long-term sustainability for some parts of the market. I also see home delivery trucks for King Soopers (Kroger) and Wal*Mart in my area.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#60

Post by x0x0 »

mooreds wrote: post #24

It's hard for me to see how this doesn't hurt local vendors badly. Of course, it depends on what the the 25,000 items are, but that was one of the key differentiators between Amazon and local stores--if you needed something and you needed it now, the local store was the only option (things like cabling for a new TV, gifts for a party that night, etc). Now, for prime members in NYC at least, Amazon is a viable option.…

There's other places amazon is very vulnerable.

For example, try buying a car fob battery -- in my case, a cr2016. You'll see dozens of such batteries, some name brand, some not. But if you read the comments, you'll find that even the purportedly (from the listing name and image) name brand batteries often aren't. eg [1] After spending 30 minutes trying to find a single listing that actually would send me a bloody name-brand, within expiration date battery, I just gave up. This was far more hassle than just going to my local hardware store.

Another place amazon is very vulnerable is personal / body goods and food. I'm fine buying books and flashlights from them, but for food, deodorant, sunblock, lipsticks, etc, I want real goods not fake ones. Ideally purchased by amazon directly from the originating company. Instead, I'm confident that when you purchase those goods, even if directly from amazon and not one of the marketplace vendors, amazon will look to find the closest warehouse with such an item in it (even listed from one of the marketplace vendors) and send that to you. Amazon also makes it quite difficult to just purchase directly from amazon and not from a marketplace vendor. I think there's going to be a huge scandal when people realize lots of those goods are fake.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-CR2016-Lithium-Battery-5-Pk/...

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