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This is an example of US economic dynamism. In France or even the UK people would be saying, "How can we let such a large, profitable company lay off people so easily?"
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I don't encounter many counterfeit problem as people here seem to be frequently hit. I use Amazon quite frequently, more than one order each week. Disclaimer: Ex-Amazon employee.
The line in the sand for me was when I purchased new socks and, fresh from the sealed plastic wrapper, they just didn't have that glorious new-sock feel. Washings later I can still tell the difference between the counterfeits I got online and the real ones I got in a store, and it is always a little let down when they come up in the sock rotation.
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What about Amazon makes it successful with having multiple versions of the same concept at one time compared to Google's* lack of success doing the same? *At least my impression of Google and their structure/incentive system that pushes different groups to pursue the same thing and not succeed at any. Messaging is at the forefront in my mind.
Follow-through. Google is infamous for this sequence of events, time and time again: 1. We made this great new thing that's gonna change the way you verb! Hope you enjoy it! 2. (1-5 years of product stagnation) 3. Hey, thanks for the all the good times. We're closing the thing at the end of the year. Amazon (for all their warts) is much more adept at keeping customer experience in their crosshairs.
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They just launched project zero, so at least they seem to be addressing the issue. https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-project-zer...
Seems really cool. Serialization is the answer: manufacturer sends exact serial numbers electronically before shipping merchandise. Serial numbers are scanned with barcode readers on entry to fulfillment center and as they are picked/packed for delivery. There should be zero chance of co-mingling if done properly.
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Seems really cool. Serialization is the answer: manufacturer sends exact serial numbers electronically before shipping merchandise. Serial numbers are scanned with barcode readers on entry to fulfillment center and as they are picked/packed for delivery. There should be zero chance of co-mingling if done properly.
Amazon does do this - it's called Amazon Transparency. https://brandservices.amazon.com/transparency
Note that they are only shutting down pop-up stores that feature (it sounds like) all Amazon products like Kindle, etc. NOT their cashierless "Go" stores. It sounds like they figured out that dedicated physical locations for Amazon products don't make sense like it does for Apple, etc.
This is an example of US economic dynamism. In France or even the UK people would be saying, "How can we let such a large, profitable company lay off people so easily?"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s been a lot of heated discussion about this on HN previously, but it would be interesting to know 1) how big of a problem it is, and 2) what people are buying that seem to have this problem. My household buys on average 10-20 items from amazon each week for many years (combined personal, my business, my wife’s business) and have yet to receive a counterfeit item. Am I doing something different?
The problem seems to exclusively affect HN commenters, who have the remarkable misfortune of having every single item they buy off Amazon turn out to be counterfeit. It's a total scourge on the community of HN but miraculously doesn't seem to affect anyone else. Occasionally I'll see a broken-English listing from a third-party seller advertising a $800 camera for $200, but when that happens I just...don't purchase th…
I ordered the exact same listing maybe 4 or 5 times (at the top it would say 'You ordered this item on XX.XX.XXXX) and the sixth time I ordered it, what turned up wasn't Anker at all, and wasnt' even pretending to be. The pack was completely different and this was from a store listed as 'Anker'.
Of course, Amazon refunded and sent the correct item but it does happen.
This is more or less what Amazon is known for - experimentation, A/B testing and dumping ideas quickly. I'm pretty in awe that Amazon seems to have (at least) three bricks and mortar retail concepts on the go at the same time : Go, pop up stores and Whole Foods, and is only now deciding to cut one of them. Amazon's commitment to going with the data goes so so deep.
What about Amazon makes it successful with having multiple versions of the same concept at one time compared to Google's* lack of success doing the same? *At least my impression of Google and their structure/incentive system that pushes different groups to pursue the same thing and not succeed at any. Messaging is at the forefront in my mind.
You could describe both with the same shorthand cliches, but they're obviously very different.
I think the difference is how intentional they are. In this case, they want to do physical retail. They have certain ideas about what meaningful wins they can achieve in retail. What they're "testing" are, in a very broad sense, implimentation details and approaches. They are intent ona destination, but very expiremental about the route.
Google is/was either more "blue sky." They "expirement" more like a VC or incubator expirements. It's more about making likely betys than finding a way to do X. Anything that seems promising is worth a go. They have certain areas (ML, web/mobile platorms) that they invest particularly heavily in, similar to a VC's specific health-tech or ed-tech funds, but the destination is blue sky... "change the world and make billions with ML."
I would say amazon does it more like a startup, and Google is more like a startup investor.
BTW, sometimes one works and sometimes the other works. Google (mostly via android) had far more success in mobile devices/OSs, even though both attempted it.
I think you have to give the edge to amazon though. They managed to build a new business that was better than the old one. Google still makes all its money fom search+ads and supporting stuff. Even their big product successes (android, chrome, drive/docs, maps, etc.) are not money spinners. They arguably support the search+ads business, but nothing is in the same league as aws.
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Follow-through. Google is infamous for this sequence of events, time and time again: 1. We made this great new thing that's gonna change the way you verb! Hope you enjoy it! 2. (1-5 years of product stagnation) 3. Hey, thanks for the all the good times. We're closing the thing at the end of the year. Amazon (for all their warts) is much more adept at keeping customer experience in their crosshairs.
I'm going to miss Inbox. Sure they merged a bunch of features back into Gmail, but they still don't provide some of the greatest ones - such as context aware grouping. Planning a trip? All the emails from the various services you reserved (airfare, rental car, hotel, etc.) get grouped under "Your Trip to X" automatically. Or the grouping of GitHub emails under a group per repository or organization with buttons such…