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I am surprised that this post was not downvoted. Several obviously wrong or weakly founded arguments: > The notion that shoppers will one day buy things simply

I am surprised that this post was not downvoted. Several obviously wrong or weakly founded arguments: > The notion that shoppers will one day buy things simply with the push of a button or saying "Alexa, get me some paper towels" seems extremely far-fetched to me. This already happens. You probably means that most shoppers. But the problem or the concern is not if Amazon will provide such mechanism; rather, is if Amazon can continue to have strategic dominance over the primary portal to online shopping. If smart home becomes the primary portal, then Amazon is geared to achieve that. If it's some other form, Amazon has demonstrated necessary tech and business prowess to do that too. If online shopping is doomed, OK, then Amazon is doomed. > Most shoppers are extremely price-sensitive and won't buy things before researching the price, save possibly for a few low-price staples like toilet paper or soap. This is simply wrong. In reality, price sensitivity is not that important. Otherwise, Walmart should already become the "everything" store, and Amazon should have not been possible. > why would Amazon be the sole beneficiary of that development and not every grocery store? The answer is already here. Why Amazon becomes the single biggest winner of online shopping, while other players did not catch up. Whatever the answer is, it can be applied in the future. > Despite being the runaway leader in cloud service, they make very little money in it This is plain wrong. Check out their quarterly report. Cloud's margin is very good. Take a look at MSFT, GOOGLE, Oracle, and more. If this market is not going to produce high profit, there is no way everyone is joining in the competition. > I just think long term that they will settle in as a large American retailer that reshaped the retail landscape for other stores that will eventually catch up. If you are not impressed by a company reshape the retail industry, then I am not sure there will be anything that would impress you...

dkrich 10y ago
Do you typically down-vote posts that don't happen to agree with your world view? I don't see how your points are any more well-founded than mine as they are all based on conjecture and not facts. Arguments like "Cloud's margin is very good" may make sense to you, but typically a well-reasoned argument states a thesis followed by evidence supporting it and I'm not seeing that. You are also making all sorts of erroneous assumptions about what I said. I never said that I wasn't "impressed" by Amazon, in fact I think I actually said that what they've done is extraordinary. I also never said that online shopping, or Amazon for that matter, were "doomed." And to your point about Wal-Mart being the "everything" store- name all the retailers on Earth that are larger than Wal-Mart. I'd be interested to hear what you came up with because last time I checked, there weren't any. Wal-Mart is the everything store, and has been for a long time. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be that most shoppers are price-conscious? If your argument is simply that ecommerce hasn't overtaken brick-and-mortar yet, fine, but then why does Wal-Mart absolutely dominate every other brick-and-mortar? It's because they've always relentlessly focused on figuring out ways to lower prices for their customers. In fact despite what a lot of people think, Wal-Mart has one of the most sophisticated distribution and inventory management systems ever created. It wasn't so long ago that Wal-Mart was being cast as evil because of their tactics bullying product manufacturers, but now people are writing their eulogy. Sorry, but the idea that mass-market customers are highly price-sensitive is well-founded and beyond dispute. If you can't come up with a single potential threat to a business, you should probably take a step back and ask yourself if you're really looking at the situation objectively.
- justicezyx 10y ago
  I don't downvote posts with different view, but only posts with baseless claims. So far, all your statements are either claims that have little fact support, or rather empty prediction that makes little current impact in the discussion, either true or false.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
Pyxl101 10y ago
> The notion that shoppers will one day buy things simply with the push of a button or saying "Alexa, get me some paper towels" seems extremely far-fetched to me. Indeed, that's not "one day". That's now. I've actually purchased paper towels using voice. I have a Dash and have also bought staples with the push of a button. I don't see what's so far-fetched about this. It's pretty simple. When I'm buying a staple consumable product like paper towels, I am not shopping in the sense of looking around to compare products or pick the lowest price. I'm repeating a purchase that I've made before, at a price I'm already happy with. I can also buy most of what I need online and have it delivered to my home. Traveling out to a store, shopping, checking out, and getting home often takes an hour or more, so shopping online saves me a lot of time. Some people might be luddites, and that's their choice. The rest of us can benefit from this technology today.

dkrich 10y ago

Do you typically down-vote posts that don't happen to agree with your world view? I don't see how your points are any more well-founded than mine as they are all based on conjecture and not facts. Arguments like "Cloud's margin is very good" may make sense to you, but typically a well-reasoned argument states a thesis followed by evidence supporting it and I'm not seeing that. You are also making all sorts of erroneous assumptions about what I said. I never said that I wasn't "impressed" by Amazon, in fact I think I actually said that what they've done is extraordinary. I also never said that online shopping, or Amazon for that matter, were "doomed." And to your point about Wal-Mart being the "everything" store- name all the retailers on Earth that are larger than Wal-Mart. I'd be interested to hear what you came up with because last time I checked, there weren't any. Wal-Mart is the everything store, and has been for a long time. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be that most shoppers are price-conscious? If your argument is simply that ecommerce hasn't overtaken brick-and-mortar yet, fine, but then why does Wal-Mart absolutely dominate every other brick-and-mortar? It's because they've always relentlessly focused on figuring out ways to lower prices for their customers. In fact despite what a lot of people think, Wal-Mart has one of the most sophisticated distribution and inventory management systems ever created. It wasn't so long ago that Wal-Mart was being cast as evil because of their tactics bullying product manufacturers, but now people are writing their eulogy. Sorry, but the idea that mass-market customers are highly price-sensitive is well-founded and beyond dispute. If you can't come up with a single potential threat to a business, you should probably take a step back and ask yourself if you're really looking at the situation objectively.

justicezyx 10y ago
I don't downvote posts with different view, but only posts with baseless claims. So far, all your statements are either claims that have little fact support, or rather empty prediction that makes little current impact in the discussion, either true or false.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

Pyxl101 10y ago

> The notion that shoppers will one day buy things simply with the push of a button or saying "Alexa, get me some paper towels" seems extremely far-fetched to me. Indeed, that's not "one day". That's now. I've actually purchased paper towels using voice. I have a Dash and have also bought staples with the push of a button. I don't see what's so far-fetched about this. It's pretty simple. When I'm buying a staple consumable product like paper towels, I am not shopping in the sense of looking around to compare products or pick the lowest price. I'm repeating a purchase that I've made before, at a price I'm already happy with. I can also buy most of what I need online and have it delivered to my home. Traveling out to a store, shopping, checking out, and getting home often takes an hour or more, so shopping online saves me a lot of time. Some people might be luddites, and that's their choice. The rest of us can benefit from this technology today.