4 ms·

Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push

36 points by pestkranker 9y ago

mintplant 9y ago
I believe there are a number of entrenched players in this space already. They're called "shops".
- bks 9y ago
  Except for my number 1 issue with shops...there is no way to check the inventory before you go. Their websites often suck at the store level inventory and if you do call customer care - and they do happen to send someone back to check it can take 10 minutes to find out if they have it, not just in their system - but on the shelf. The elegance of Amazon is its logistics.
  - m-j-fox 9y ago
    Don't forget wandering aisles looking for the Chromecast Fry's helpfully stocks in the back corner of the car radio department.
    - jvolkman 9y ago
      > Chromecast Hah. You'll be looking for a lot longer at any of Amazon's stores.
    - koolba 9y ago
      And most shops have open/closed hours. With this I can order something at 11pm and go pick it up immediately. Or order it at 2pm and pick up later that day.
  - reaperducer 9y ago
    Depends on the shop. Target, Walmart and CVS are really good about being able to check inventory at the local store online, then buy the item online, and pick it up at the customer service counter in an hour or two. This is the model that Amazon will have to beat. And the only way it can do that is through offering a better selection. Which should be possible since Amazon won't have aisles to stock.
    - mmagin 9y ago
      I have discovered that the inventory numbers at Home Depot are disappointingly bad however.
- elsewhen 9y ago
  Shops have to present goods in an attractive and easily accessible way. An Amazon pickup location can be dramatically more dense with products;in other words they can offer much more variety in the same footprint. Also if Amazon become good at having the items ready, it becomes a very different experience than traditional shopping.
losteverything 9y ago
First impression was the automat ... people quickly refilling the doors. Are there any left?
rsynnott 9y ago
Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually? (Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes after).
- dazc 9y ago
  You can also order online at Argos and pick up although the one time I tried that it worked out slower than ordering in-store. Argos has never done so well as they could do, in my opinion. Not sure Sainsbury's are going to be the ideal solution to this either?
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Many major chains have free ship-to-store ordering. I don't take advantage of it much but, especially if you have logistics issues with getting large or expensive packages delivered, it's not a bad option.
- syntheticnature 9y ago
  I'm not aware of any current US equivalents, though now-defunct chain Service Merchandise was similar, and Sears was a US pioneer of catalog ordering and did have some overlap in catalog usage in their retail stores, back when they still did catalogs.
- ghaff 9y ago
  "Catalog showrooms" used to be more common in the US. Service Merchandise is the name that pops to mind. Lots of places have something like this as part of a hybrid model. B&H Photo is one example that I frequent.
- Johnny555 9y ago
  The USA used to have "Service Merchandise" [1], which was a similar concept -- it was a "catalog showroom", you'd walk the isles, find the product you wanted and write down the code and then after you check out, you'd wait for your product to appear on a conveyer belt from the warehouse. They went out of business in the early 2000's. I don't know of any similar stores that are still in business. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise
slackoverflower 9y ago
This is pretty genius. Back at college, the regular USPS office looked like an Amazon branded post office. Almost all boxes had the distinct blue tape with the Amazon Prime logo. College students, though broke, love to impulse buy. Amazing move by Amazon.
wlesieutre 9y ago
Article doesn't mention this, but a big selling point is painless returns. Just drop stuff off and get your money back. IMO that makes them a much more attractive option for items like clothes that might not fit. EDIT: I might be wrong here, I assumed it was talking about Amazon locations like the one that recently opened up in my hometown, but that's "Pickup Point", this is "Instant Pickup". Pickup Points do 1-day delivery and easy returns, I don't think you even need a Prime membership. Not clear from the article if Instant Pickup locations offer those services too or if they're only for stocking common items with fast availability.
- shostack 9y ago
  Wait, there are easy return locations for Amazon? Do I have to deal with packaging? I honestly hate having to keep old boxes around on the off chance I'll need to return something, so that would be a nice change. Honestly my biggest use case is furniture. Stores in the Bay Area are too small to hold a decent showroom selection because real estate is so expensive so everything is online. But they want insane fees to ship and return which I refuse to pay because I'm not paying $50+ to find out the photo was deceptive and the furniture build quality is crap, or the color is nothing like online. Being able to buy online, pickup from store or have delivered to home and then free returns at a store location would be great. Right now I'm mostly limited to Target and BB&B with those criteria which stinks.
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    Here's what I found: > Can I return items at Amazon@StateCollege? > Yes, we accept returns of most items that were sold by Amazon.com. You can print your return label at home or use our self-service kiosk to print a label for your return. Select ‘Returns’ on the main screen to find options for starting or continuing a return process. If you need a box or tape, we are happy to provide them. > Can I return anything at Amazon@StateCollege? > No. We only accept Amazon returns with prepaid mailing labels. I thought it was more clear than that on taking returns, but now I'm not sure what they're willing to provide prepaid return labels for. https://www.amazon.com/gp/campus?campusId=CAMPUS_PSU https://www.amazon.com/gp/campus?campusId=CAMPUS_PSU
mpcovcd 9y ago
It's interesting to see a lot of recent innovations from Amazon are going back to brick and mortar (Whole Foods, Amazon Go, Amazon Bookstore, etc).
chiph 9y ago
Why are the items in Amazon boxes? That's waste.
- wccrawford 9y ago
  Because nobody has any business knowing that you're buying a new dildo.
  - chiph 9y ago
    The units are stocked with commonly sold items - like phone chargers. So I suppose it's possible that dildo sales in an area are frequent enough to justify their being in there...
sixo 9y ago
I feel like there's room in the world for a kind of locally-owned-but-Amazon-franchised brick-and-mortar store. It would probably be named, advertised, etc w/o oversight from amazon, and pick their niche and character in the local market, etc, but source supply from Amazon's network and additionally play the part of a pickup/dropoff site for local deliveries. This is assuming Amazon could trade off some of their margin for the batching of goods (for the shop) and the oversight of their pickup site.
maddyboo 9y ago
Here's [1] the official press release from Amazon. Not sure what's up with the weird URL, I got there from Amazon's `About` page. 1: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2293961 http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-ne...
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Corporate press release site.
RandalSchwartz 9y ago
"You'll recognize them because they're labeled with 'Whole Foods'". :)

36 points by pestkranker 9y ago

mintplant 9y ago

I believe there are a number of entrenched players in this space already. They're called "shops".

bks 9y ago
Except for my number 1 issue with shops...there is no way to check the inventory before you go. Their websites often suck at the store level inventory and if you do call customer care - and they do happen to send someone back to check it can take 10 minutes to find out if they have it, not just in their system - but on the shelf. The elegance of Amazon is its logistics.
- m-j-fox 9y ago
  Don't forget wandering aisles looking for the Chromecast Fry's helpfully stocks in the back corner of the car radio department.
  - jvolkman 9y ago
    > Chromecast Hah. You'll be looking for a lot longer at any of Amazon's stores.
  - koolba 9y ago
    And most shops have open/closed hours. With this I can order something at 11pm and go pick it up immediately. Or order it at 2pm and pick up later that day.
- reaperducer 9y ago
  Depends on the shop. Target, Walmart and CVS are really good about being able to check inventory at the local store online, then buy the item online, and pick it up at the customer service counter in an hour or two. This is the model that Amazon will have to beat. And the only way it can do that is through offering a better selection. Which should be possible since Amazon won't have aisles to stock.
  - mmagin 9y ago
    I have discovered that the inventory numbers at Home Depot are disappointingly bad however.
elsewhen 9y ago
Shops have to present goods in an attractive and easily accessible way. An Amazon pickup location can be dramatically more dense with products;in other words they can offer much more variety in the same footprint. Also if Amazon become good at having the items ready, it becomes a very different experience than traditional shopping.

losteverything 9y ago

First impression was the automat ... people quickly refilling the doors. Are there any left?

rsynnott 9y ago

Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually? (Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes after).

dazc 9y ago
You can also order online at Argos and pick up although the one time I tried that it worked out slower than ordering in-store. Argos has never done so well as they could do, in my opinion. Not sure Sainsbury's are going to be the ideal solution to this either?
- ghaff 9y ago
  Many major chains have free ship-to-store ordering. I don't take advantage of it much but, especially if you have logistics issues with getting large or expensive packages delivered, it's not a bad option.
syntheticnature 9y ago
I'm not aware of any current US equivalents, though now-defunct chain Service Merchandise was similar, and Sears was a US pioneer of catalog ordering and did have some overlap in catalog usage in their retail stores, back when they still did catalogs.
ghaff 9y ago
"Catalog showrooms" used to be more common in the US. Service Merchandise is the name that pops to mind. Lots of places have something like this as part of a hybrid model. B&H Photo is one example that I frequent.
Johnny555 9y ago
The USA used to have "Service Merchandise" [1], which was a similar concept -- it was a "catalog showroom", you'd walk the isles, find the product you wanted and write down the code and then after you check out, you'd wait for your product to appear on a conveyer belt from the warehouse. They went out of business in the early 2000's. I don't know of any similar stores that are still in business. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise

slackoverflower 9y ago

This is pretty genius. Back at college, the regular USPS office looked like an Amazon branded post office. Almost all boxes had the distinct blue tape with the Amazon Prime logo. College students, though broke, love to impulse buy. Amazing move by Amazon.

wlesieutre 9y ago

Article doesn't mention this, but a big selling point is painless returns. Just drop stuff off and get your money back. IMO that makes them a much more attractive option for items like clothes that might not fit. EDIT: I might be wrong here, I assumed it was talking about Amazon locations like the one that recently opened up in my hometown, but that's "Pickup Point", this is "Instant Pickup". Pickup Points do 1-day delivery and easy returns, I don't think you even need a Prime membership. Not clear from the article if Instant Pickup locations offer those services too or if they're only for stocking common items with fast availability.

shostack 9y ago
Wait, there are easy return locations for Amazon? Do I have to deal with packaging? I honestly hate having to keep old boxes around on the off chance I'll need to return something, so that would be a nice change. Honestly my biggest use case is furniture. Stores in the Bay Area are too small to hold a decent showroom selection because real estate is so expensive so everything is online. But they want insane fees to ship and return which I refuse to pay because I'm not paying $50+ to find out the photo was deceptive and the furniture build quality is crap, or the color is nothing like online. Being able to buy online, pickup from store or have delivered to home and then free returns at a store location would be great. Right now I'm mostly limited to Target and BB&B with those criteria which stinks.
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  Here's what I found: > Can I return items at Amazon@StateCollege? > Yes, we accept returns of most items that were sold by Amazon.com. You can print your return label at home or use our self-service kiosk to print a label for your return. Select ‘Returns’ on the main screen to find options for starting or continuing a return process. If you need a box or tape, we are happy to provide them. > Can I return anything at Amazon@StateCollege? > No. We only accept Amazon returns with prepaid mailing labels. I thought it was more clear than that on taking returns, but now I'm not sure what they're willing to provide prepaid return labels for. https://www.amazon.com/gp/campus?campusId=CAMPUS_PSU https://www.amazon.com/gp/campus?campusId=CAMPUS_PSU

mpcovcd 9y ago

It's interesting to see a lot of recent innovations from Amazon are going back to brick and mortar (Whole Foods, Amazon Go, Amazon Bookstore, etc).

chiph 9y ago

Why are the items in Amazon boxes? That's waste.

wccrawford 9y ago
Because nobody has any business knowing that you're buying a new dildo.
- chiph 9y ago
  The units are stocked with commonly sold items - like phone chargers. So I suppose it's possible that dildo sales in an area are frequent enough to justify their being in there...

sixo 9y ago

I feel like there's room in the world for a kind of locally-owned-but-Amazon-franchised brick-and-mortar store. It would probably be named, advertised, etc w/o oversight from amazon, and pick their niche and character in the local market, etc, but source supply from Amazon's network and additionally play the part of a pickup/dropoff site for local deliveries. This is assuming Amazon could trade off some of their margin for the batching of goods (for the shop) and the oversight of their pickup site.

maddyboo 9y ago

Here's [1] the official press release from Amazon. Not sure what's up with the weird URL, I got there from Amazon's `About` page. 1: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2293961 http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-ne...

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Corporate press release site.

RandalSchwartz 9y ago

"You'll recognize them because they're labeled with 'Whole Foods'". :)