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Costco is the anti-Amazon

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Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#551

Post by satvikpendem »

mullingitover wrote: post #178
whatever1 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not only a faster Temu for e-junk. It can also deliver your paper wipes and bananas in the same order. Could you just place 3 different orders to 3 different vendors? Sure. Could you just drive to the grocery for 2 bananas and then to Costco for the big discounted paper wipes? Sure. But likely you will not. Which is why Amazon pulls a Trillion in revenue.

I've tried Amazon for groceries on this line of thinking. Verdict: it's terrible. Their groceries are priced uncompetitively and after a few times having some stranger pick my produce (and doing an offensively bad job of it) I don't do that anymore. So since I'm 100% definitely going to the grocery store for produce, at minimum, this whole concept fails. May as well pick up the ziploc bags and paper towels as well wh…

The competitive advantage is being able to order in the same shipment as all your other stuff, and it should also obviate the need to go to the store too, saving time and likely money by not being enticed to buy other things while you're there. Even if I didn't use Amazon I'd still use grocery delivery such as what Costco offers for example.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#552

Post by brailsafe »

testfoobar wrote: post #470
brailsafe wrote: post #251

My impression of Costco's selection is that it's the retail distillation of car-centric suburbs, despite it not being exclusively those people who shop there. The happy suburbanite cares about convenience and quantity above all else, from what I can tell anyway. They don't really have a varied sense of taste, they just want stuff, and they want easy access to that stuff. They like a "haul" that they do once a month,…

> "The happy suburbanite cares about convenience and quantity above all else, from what I can tell anyway. They don't really have a varied sense of taste, they just want stuff, and they want easy access to that stuff. They like a "haul" that they do once a month, and buy vehicles that will fit it." This is not reflective of the Costco shoppers I know and the place Costco fits in their lives. Bi-Rite and Erewhon or Ci…

> To understand the appeal of Costco to suburban families, you have to understand their caloric needs. Costco is the best solution if you need to buy 48 eggs and 4 gallons of milk a week along with 8lbs of chicken, 4lbs of turkey, and pounds of broccoli, green beans, spinach, sweet potatoes, onions accompanied with apples, peaches, mangos, avocados, blueberries, strawberries and oranges.

Isn't this effectively what I said? Admittedly I could have gone a bit far in suggesting they don't have a varied sense of taste, but what I meant was that it's not important to them to apply it to groceries, if they're a Costco member.

Quantity and convenience

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#553

Post by brailsafe »

quacker wrote: post #475
brailsafe wrote: post #251

My impression of Costco's selection is that it's the retail distillation of car-centric suburbs, despite it not being exclusively those people who shop there. The happy suburbanite cares about convenience and quantity above all else, from what I can tell anyway. They don't really have a varied sense of taste, they just want stuff, and they want easy access to that stuff. They like a "haul" that they do once a month,…

I don’t need “a varied sense of taste” to save money on gas and non-perishables. I don’t need “a varied sense of taste” to budget and do simple math to determine the membership is worth it. Babies don’t need “a varied sense of taste” to use diapers purchased from Costco in bulk at a great price. Do I lack a “varied sense of taste” when I buy ingredients from Costco, like chicken thighs and rice and eggs and olive oil…

I went a bit far in saying there's a "missing" sense of taste, but did mean that it's not important to apply it when buying huge amounts of groceries, so I agree.

What I was thinking of more broadly was the cookie cutter nature of many suburbs. You get a stamped out template of a neighborhood with the same franchises. Houses over here, parking lot over there.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#554

Post by brailsafe »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #352
brailsafe wrote: post #251

My impression of Costco's selection is that it's the retail distillation of car-centric suburbs, despite it not being exclusively those people who shop there. The happy suburbanite cares about convenience and quantity above all else, from what I can tell anyway. They don't really have a varied sense of taste, they just want stuff, and they want easy access to that stuff. They like a "haul" that they do once a month,…

The nice thing about Costco's stuff is that it's typically pretty high quality too. Honestly I wouldn't say Costco is terribly convenient, other than the limited selection.

The convenience, anecdotally, largely comes from stocking up on a big buy and not having to carry anything futher than from the cart to the car and from the car to the house. This is also done at any other big box store, but Costco does it the best, because the savings cones from the lack of selection and the sheer size of the carts and items.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#555

Post by mattmaroon »

bell-cot wrote: post #436
mattmaroon wrote: post #170

Costcos tech stack is frankly unconscionably bad. It’s the one way in which Sam’s Club crushes them. There’s no reason they couldn’t do basically all of the good things mentioned in this article plus have a functional website, let me scan and pay with my phone in store, have a handheld scanner at each register, etc.

Very few people are shopping at Costco for their tech stack. And maybe it's just their talented/experienced/numerous staff, but my in-store experience with their tech is as good as it gets. Stuff just works, and works quickly.

Ok, load the app and search for Heinz ketchup and tell me what it would cost to go get some in store.

You can’t. You can only get delivery pricing. They don’t have the basic functionality every store has had for a decade.

Go to self check-out and grab a scanner for your heavy items, which they sell many of. You can’t, they don’t have them, you have to wait for the attendant to get to you with it. (They’re generally good at their job but it’s still annoying if you’re in a rush.)

Sam’s Club is as good as it gets tech-wise, in-store and out. They even have AI that allows the exit door receipt checker to skip checking people so you don’t get stuck in a line waiting for someone to verify you paid for everything.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#556

Post by willlma »

Insanity wrote: post #430
card_zero wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get the argument either. Perhaps if you can't walk very far? If I put half an hour into walking I can easily buy all the essentials, such as a crash cymbal, oil of violets, steel nibs for my dip pen, a CD player, and a teapot.

I live in a metropolitan area and can walk to many stores within a 30 minute radius. (First supermarket is less than 5 minutes away). But there is the added complication of weight. I can’t buy food for a week without driving there. Nor can I go and buy a TV by just walking to the hardware store.

30 minutes is on the longer side, but I think part of the point of walkable grocery runs is that you don't buy a week's worth of food like you do in a car. When I lived in Paris, I'd happily pop out to buy whatever I needed for a single meal. I had so many grocery stores within a 5-minute walk. Now that I'm in SF, I buy for the week (on my bike with panier bags) because the grocery stores I like are far from my home.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#557

Post by robocat »

close04 wrote: post #499
mongol wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use to shop at Lidl. As you say, they carry a limited SKU assortment. But I have found it doesn't really matter. When I go to a grocery store that carries more variety, it feels exciting, but in the end it makes no difference. As long as I can get the essentials, I will manage. I don't need 20 types of hamburger dressing. I can make my own from first principles. I don't need 40 types of yoghurt. I buy can natural a…

The rotation is because they stock the product for which they can negotiate the best discount. But as you say the 20k SKUs premium stores stock aren’t a necessity. They drive up the costs for the store and the price for the buyer all so the buyer has the feeling they bought something different, when many brands are anyway the same product under different labels. The premium store 3 minutes from my home stocks 30 type…

> That’s what 99% of people buy anyway

Until there's one less common thing you want. If you don't care much about flavour or have no taste in products then you can sub in any crap food or product.

I go to a particular supermarket because it has the tomatoes I like: they just can't be substituted. It also has an uncommon milk that is the only one I really like. The issue gets harder once you desire specific Deli foods.

How much of SKU selection is driven by individual consumer tastes? Some brand selection is driven by other causes.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#558

Post by dietr1ch »

luisln wrote: post #492
dietr1ch wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish cities should design a delivery railroad. I don't want to let food delivery robots take over pedestrian spaces and having standardised package sizes and weight limits would help make things efficient.

Large cities are designed to get people outside, not keep them inside. A delivery raiload would take up space that could otherwise be used to transport people.

A lot of transportation is required into cities to deliver food and supplies into supermarkets and then homes. If you improved that you'd have more space and time for fun

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#559

Post by newsoftheday »

__float wrote: post #462
newsoftheday wrote: post #440

We are probably fortunate, we live 5 minutes from one Costco, 6 minutes from a second one and 17 minutes from a third. My wife visits Costco every week, Walmart every week often on different days, etc. We buy from Amazon online frequently. Sometimes an item is cheaper at one place than another, comparison shopping, sometimes cheaper online, sometimes cheaper in the store. It all works, though the article mentions pub…

Why do you need to visit Costco every week? This feels like the most inefficient combination of the city-style "shop small quantities often" and suburb-style "buy everything in bulk once a month". > ...it may just be disguised political messaging article. It doesn't seem to be particularly for or against the NYC proposal to me, so I don't understand why you are suggesting this.

Wife does the shopping, I'm partially disabled, can't stand long. She enjoys getting out and treats herself to a hot dog and/or a desert and likes to sample the free taste test tables. She has made some enduring buying decisions based on those taste tests, they do work.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#560

Post by mullingitover »

satvikpendem wrote: post #551
mullingitover wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried Amazon for groceries on this line of thinking. Verdict: it's terrible. Their groceries are priced uncompetitively and after a few times having some stranger pick my produce (and doing an offensively bad job of it) I don't do that anymore. So since I'm 100% definitely going to the grocery store for produce, at minimum, this whole concept fails. May as well pick up the ziploc bags and paper towels as well wh…

The competitive advantage is being able to order in the same shipment as all your other stuff, and it should also obviate the need to go to the store too, saving time and likely money by not being enticed to buy other things while you're there. Even if I didn't use Amazon I'd still use grocery delivery such as what Costco offers for example.

I don't think my point got through: purchasing vegetables and fruits, essential staple foods, involves some amount of discernment. It's not like grabbing a USB cable out of the box of identical USB cables.

Passing this task off to someone who's essentially the lowest bidder and doesn't care about picking acceptable quality goods, in my repeated experience, does not work. They pick unusable goods, wasting my time and money.

I've had to be taught this lesson an embarrassing number of times before it really sunk in, but it finally did. I'll not that this applies getting delivery from local stores. Grocery pickers are simply not aligned with your interests.

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