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In my experience, the quality of Amazon is average at best. The only reason why they are winning is because they are cheap. The Walmart model basically: Cheap

In my experience, the quality of Amazon is average at best. The only reason why they are winning is because they are cheap. The Walmart model basically: Cheap wins over quality.

ng12 10y ago
What is your metric for quality? Amazon sells almost everything I want at a good price and I have to spend minimal effort to get it -- sounds like a quality service to me.
giarc 10y ago
I would argue it's not the Walmart model. Walmart's model is to have a store in every town in America. Amazon (outside of a few book stores and experimental stores) doesn't have a single brick and mortar business. Amazon's model is to 1. power the internet and 2. put a store in everyone's home through their phone/computer.
- exclusiv 10y ago
  Amazon does have brick and mortar stores - both bookstores and Amazon Go. Walmart's new model is to sell online, but they just aren't very good at it and I don't see Jet saving them.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    >Amazon does have brick and mortar stores - both bookstores and Amazon Go. And both are totally irrelevant to their operation, and a decimal point in their revenue. They could close them tomorrow and nobody would care. Whereas for Walmart their stores are essential to their operation.
    - ethbro 10y ago
      Walmart has the Microsoft Office problem. Anything that canabalizes physical store revenue is going to have to fight beauracratic headwinds. So while Walmart online may be necessary (in the same way Office 365 / on iOS & Android was), I don't have much faith on their being able to organizationally get there in a timely manner with sufficient resources. Far more companies seem to recognize changing marketplaces and then botch business transitions by not being aggressive enough vs simply missing the changing marketplace signals.
    - exclusiv 10y ago
      Perhaps that's the case right now. However, I was just pointing out that they do indeed have brick and mortar stores because the parent said they didn't have any. Anyway, AWS was once a decimal point in their revenue too. In fact it's around 10% right now, but very important in terms of profit.
      - giarc 10y ago
        Parent comment (mine) did not say they have no brick and mortar stores. But for all intents and purposes, they have 0 stores.
        exclusiv 9y ago
        It did. You edited it. Then in your reply above you still remain stubborn with "for all intents and purposes". Amazon has brick and mortar and expanding it's part of their strategy. I'm not saying it's a big piece of their business right now. No need to adjust your statements semantically and go back and forth because you weren't accurate in your prior claim. Furthermore - you said "Walmart's model is to have a store in every town in America". Amazon wants a piece of that $480 B in revenue too. You can't steal all of that revenue by only being online.
        giarc 9y ago
        I didn't edit it. Please don't sink to the level of putting words in people's mouths.
        exclusiv 9y ago
        Well you did edit it with the parens and you are the one sinking to putting words in my mouth and being dishonest so it's just an impasse I guess.
oculusthrift 10y ago
i don't think they are necessarily cheap. i buy from them because they are convenient and have everything. I only want one online shopping identity and even if toothpaste is more expensive there, i go ahead and get it over heading to the store many times.
- ethbro 10y ago
  On everything that isn't backed by a highly optimized logistics chain (e.g. groceries or appliances), they're always cheaper on any random item I've compared to a physical store. Which makes sense, because the price difference is essentially the ammortized cost of a physical store.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
nimchimpsky 10y ago
The quality of the website, and customer service is very very high, imo. I now live in australia, I really miss the website (they only sell e-books here so far).
- bigiain 10y ago
  Won't be long though: http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/amazon-launches-hiring-spree-as-it-prepares-for-australian-launch/news-story/b375c39bf9f08653d17a577d97e9d15b http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/amazon-launch... If I were Gerry Harvey or Richard Murray (CEO of JB Hifi) - I'd be _very_ worried...
coldtea 10y ago
>In my experience, the quality of Amazon is average at best. Compared to what? What e-shop has at least same level web experience, same level delivery, same level customer service, same breadth, same trust, etc, all together? And don't mention some niche web store that sells like 1 item to enthusiasts, where the owner personally mails the products...
aedron 10y ago
It's the Uber model - investment dollars subsidize price dumping which chokes out the competition.
- ethbro 10y ago
  Isn't part of the investment attracted a vote in favor of this being a feasible strategy?

In my experience, the quality of Amazon is average at best. The only reason why they are winning is because they are cheap. The Walmart model basically: Cheap wins over quality.

ng12 10y ago

What is your metric for quality? Amazon sells almost everything I want at a good price and I have to spend minimal effort to get it -- sounds like a quality service to me.

giarc 10y ago

I would argue it's not the Walmart model. Walmart's model is to have a store in every town in America. Amazon (outside of a few book stores and experimental stores) doesn't have a single brick and mortar business. Amazon's model is to 1. power the internet and 2. put a store in everyone's home through their phone/computer.

exclusiv 10y ago
Amazon does have brick and mortar stores - both bookstores and Amazon Go. Walmart's new model is to sell online, but they just aren't very good at it and I don't see Jet saving them.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >Amazon does have brick and mortar stores - both bookstores and Amazon Go. And both are totally irrelevant to their operation, and a decimal point in their revenue. They could close them tomorrow and nobody would care. Whereas for Walmart their stores are essential to their operation.
  - ethbro 10y ago
    Walmart has the Microsoft Office problem. Anything that canabalizes physical store revenue is going to have to fight beauracratic headwinds. So while Walmart online may be necessary (in the same way Office 365 / on iOS & Android was), I don't have much faith on their being able to organizationally get there in a timely manner with sufficient resources. Far more companies seem to recognize changing marketplaces and then botch business transitions by not being aggressive enough vs simply missing the changing marketplace signals.
  - exclusiv 10y ago
    Perhaps that's the case right now. However, I was just pointing out that they do indeed have brick and mortar stores because the parent said they didn't have any. Anyway, AWS was once a decimal point in their revenue too. In fact it's around 10% right now, but very important in terms of profit.
    - giarc 10y ago
      Parent comment (mine) did not say they have no brick and mortar stores. But for all intents and purposes, they have 0 stores.
      - exclusiv 9y ago
        It did. You edited it. Then in your reply above you still remain stubborn with "for all intents and purposes". Amazon has brick and mortar and expanding it's part of their strategy. I'm not saying it's a big piece of their business right now. No need to adjust your statements semantically and go back and forth because you weren't accurate in your prior claim. Furthermore - you said "Walmart's model is to have a store in every town in America". Amazon wants a piece of that $480 B in revenue too. You can't steal all of that revenue by only being online.
        giarc 9y ago
        I didn't edit it. Please don't sink to the level of putting words in people's mouths.
        exclusiv 9y ago
        Well you did edit it with the parens and you are the one sinking to putting words in my mouth and being dishonest so it's just an impasse I guess.

oculusthrift 10y ago

i don't think they are necessarily cheap. i buy from them because they are convenient and have everything. I only want one online shopping identity and even if toothpaste is more expensive there, i go ahead and get it over heading to the store many times.

ethbro 10y ago
On everything that isn't backed by a highly optimized logistics chain (e.g. groceries or appliances), they're always cheaper on any random item I've compared to a physical store. Which makes sense, because the price difference is essentially the ammortized cost of a physical store.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

nimchimpsky 10y ago

The quality of the website, and customer service is very very high, imo. I now live in australia, I really miss the website (they only sell e-books here so far).

bigiain 10y ago
Won't be long though: http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/amazon-launches-hiring-spree-as-it-prepares-for-australian-launch/news-story/b375c39bf9f08653d17a577d97e9d15b http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/amazon-launch... If I were Gerry Harvey or Richard Murray (CEO of JB Hifi) - I'd be _very_ worried...

coldtea 10y ago

>In my experience, the quality of Amazon is average at best. Compared to what? What e-shop has at least same level web experience, same level delivery, same level customer service, same breadth, same trust, etc, all together? And don't mention some niche web store that sells like 1 item to enthusiasts, where the owner personally mails the products...

aedron 10y ago

It's the Uber model - investment dollars subsidize price dumping which chokes out the competition.

ethbro 10y ago
Isn't part of the investment attracted a vote in favor of this being a feasible strategy?