Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
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Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#2no
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#3no
Yes. All they need to do is 1) not become perforated by fake products and 2) have quick shipping.
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#4no
Yes. All they need to do is 1) not become perforated by fake products and 2) have quick shipping.
I think they may also need a strong third party marketplace. Amazon gets a lot of great inventory from third parties. Walmart could easily mine and source the best products in each category on Amazon though.
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#5Yes.
I've already switched some of my purchases to Jet.com because: 1) I don't want the bother of trying to figure out that products are "real" and not knock-offs 2) For some items (most recently under bed storage containers) I need to know the exact dimensions and I could easily find that on Jet but not on Amazon
However, I still default to Amazon for other items. So I think Wal-Mart can compete, but I seriously doubt that they will beat Amazon.
Jeff Bezos is the Sam Walton of this generation of retail and I don't see anything changing that anytime soon.
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#6I think jet.com was a foolish acquisition (at a foolish price), and will be written off in 5 years.
Having said that, I think amazon has left a glaring gap in their armor: you cannot trust your purchases from them anymore, and more and more people are figuring it out.
I have known for a few years to save my high-dollar purchases for more reputable retailers. I bought an all-clad pan from amazon that I am convinced is a factory 2nd. Now, if I want a new Le Creuset, I get it from Williams-Sonoma or Macy's or someplace I can trust.
More recently, however, I realized even low-end purchases are not worth my time. I wanted to buy some frosting tips. After half an hour on Amazon, reading reviews accusing products of being shoddy knock-offs that rust, warp, etc., I realized it's much faster to just drive to a store and buy them. That's what I did, drove to Michael's and bought a set for close to the same price.
I will not be renewing my Amazon Prime membership this year. There's just not enough left that I am willing to buy there to bother.
This is all surprising, cause Bezos is an absolute beast. In fact, if you told me I had to compete against one of the top tech CEOs, I would pray it wasn't him (I would hope for Larry Page...).
How he is missing something so big, this sowing of mistrust, I can't understand. Or it's possible I don't see the bigger game.
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. All they need to do is 1) not become perforated by fake products and 2) have quick shipping.
I think they may also need a strong third party marketplace. Amazon gets a lot of great inventory from third parties. Walmart could easily mine and source the best products in each category on Amazon though.
Amazon's most serious problem is that they have fake products, and tons of third party resellers that are questionable, but those sellers are also a strenght. If they can fix 3rd party sellers to be trustworthy and legimitate, maybe by kicking out bad or fake ones, they'll win everything.
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#8I think jet.com was a foolish acquisition (at a foolish price), and will be written off in 5 years. Having said that, I think amazon has left a glaring gap in their armor: you cannot trust your purchases from them anymore, and more and more people are figuring it out. I have known for a few years to save my high-dollar purchases for more reputable retailers. I bought an all-clad pan from amazon that I am convinced is…
I agree. The acquisition seemed more like desperation than something grounded in logic. Jet was never going to compete with Amazon so the smart play would have been to just sit back and let them burn through their runway and then buy them on the cheap.
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#9To this day I am still shocked Wal-Mart didn't (and still doesn't) run same day shipping of all of its items in store at prices that beat Amazon's.
Not only would this crush Amazon, but would simultaneously restore Walmart's reputation as the storefront itself could be more minimalist as more of its space would be used mainly for warehousing.
Seriously. Why aren't they doing this? Does it cost a few orders of magnitude higher than I'm thinking? Wal-Mart presumably has tabs on what its inventory at its own stores are (at least the website does). Wal-Mart, at its peak is pretty close to most people's houses. All they really need is a good operational workflow to reduce the amount of time wasted on inefficient deliveries.
Re: Can Wal-Mart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?
#10I think jet.com was a foolish acquisition (at a foolish price), and will be written off in 5 years. Having said that, I think amazon has left a glaring gap in their armor: you cannot trust your purchases from them anymore, and more and more people are figuring it out. I have known for a few years to save my high-dollar purchases for more reputable retailers. I bought an all-clad pan from amazon that I am convinced is…
Same here, canceled my Prime and now am doing my shopping at target/staples/lowes/nordstroms/newegg
Only hard part is making an account, but that only takes a few seconds and much more efficient than sorting through whatever Amazon calls it's search and filtering system.