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For me, Amazon is a long way off from threatening my local supermarket and other local retailers. Would I buy clothes from Amazon? No, I like to try them on fi

For me, Amazon is a long way off from threatening my local supermarket and other local retailers. Would I buy clothes from Amazon? No, I like to try them on first. Returning stuff by mail is a pain. Would I buy expensive home furnishings from Amazon? No, I like to see, touch, try these things before I spend a lot of money. Would I buy perishable groceries from Amazon? No, because deliveries happen when I'm at work and I don't want perishable food sitting in the sun for three hours on my front porch. Do I buy toilet paper from Amazon? No, because it's easier to pick it up at the store when I'm there for something else anyway, than to get it delivered and then have to deal with disposing of the cardboard box it came in. And with anything Amazon, I'm worried about counterfeit goods. So what do I buy from Amazon? Inexpensive, low risk, low margin goods, and the occasional book.

kbos87 9y ago
Then your Amazon buying habits roughly match what mine once were - but that’s far from how a lot of people I live amongst use Amazon. I come home to my apartment every day to find Amazon vans prowling the neighborhood delivering groceries (a year ago, I had never seen one, now they are literally everywhere) and piles upon piles of Amazon boxes in my apartment lobby. I know plenty of people who buy almost everything on Amazon, short of clothing, gas, and meals they eat away from home.
AndrewKemendo 9y ago
You're a dying breed though. Every trend is moving away from your status quo. Also, depending on where you are many people's "local super market" is Whole Foods - so yes Amazon literally "threatens" a large percentage of the US' local supermarket.
- harryh 9y ago
  Whole foods has 1.2% market share.
  - AndrewKemendo 9y ago
    Doesn't matter, they are in every major market. Which means Amazon Fulfillment Centers (What Whole Foods really is now) "threaten" everything around them. [1] http://fortune.com/2017/06/16/amazon-whole-foods-stores-locations/ http://fortune.com/2017/06/16/amazon-whole-foods-stores-loca...
mzzter 9y ago
But come on, toilet paper, socks, clothes hangers, pancake mix—which are all small pieces of those other industries—are inexpensive, low risk, and low margin goods.
deevolution 9y ago
"Would I buy expensive home furnishings from Amazon? No, I like to see, touch, try these things before I spend a lot of money." I imagine AR might convince people otherwise.
- AndrewKemendo 9y ago
  In fact it does. We've seen 2% purchase lift on home furnishings with our AR.
tlarkworthy 9y ago
>Do I buy toilet paper from Amazon? No, because it's easier to pick it up at the store I get toilet paper on Amazon subscription. I don't even need to think about buying toilet paper, it's already there when I need it.
puranjay 9y ago
There are some things I shop exclusively online. With other things, experience has been a good teacher; I've learned to shop for them in-store. Like clothes. The experience is invariably better in stores than online. Amazon might offer better selection but I see that as a negative; I don't want to spend 2 hours just trying to find the right pair of jeans from 2,000 variants.
onion2k 9y ago
The margins on retail goods are tiny. If your local shop loses 20% of its business to a competitor it closes (or pivots). This isn't about whether or not you shop on Amazon; it's about whether or not you have any choice if enough other people shop there.
colordrops 9y ago
> Returning stuff by mail is a pain for now.
- gotrecruit 9y ago
  lol exactly. eventually, it will be as simple as a single click to schedule a pickup at a time of your choice.
peteretep 9y ago
> And with anything Amazon, I'm worried > about counterfeit goods. They need to get on this; they've lost ~ a thousand dollars from me this year that I've spent in previous years where I'm worried about if I'll get the real thing or not. However: > Would I buy clothes from Amazon? There's plenty of stuff I don't need to try on though. All undergarments and many shoes and pants where I know what I want already I get from Amazon. > Would I buy perishable groceries > from Amazon? I used to buy everything from Ocado when I lived in London. I'd have rather bought it from Amazon, and when they can (and maybe that's now, I'm living in Asia right now) schedule deliveries like the other supermarkets, I'll switch.
tigershark 9y ago
Amazon delivers food in slots of 1 hour whenever you want.
rmdundon 9y ago
I think it (may!) also depend on where you are located: - If you are located in a suburban / semi-rural with more stores around, you may be less likely to use Amazon - If you are in a very rural / urban area, you may be more likely to use Amazon Of course it'd probably be hard/impossible to find, but I'd like to be able to see a map of customers/purchases on Amazon in relation to urban and other areas.

kbos87 9y ago

Then your Amazon buying habits roughly match what mine once were - but that’s far from how a lot of people I live amongst use Amazon. I come home to my apartment every day to find Amazon vans prowling the neighborhood delivering groceries (a year ago, I had never seen one, now they are literally everywhere) and piles upon piles of Amazon boxes in my apartment lobby. I know plenty of people who buy almost everything on Amazon, short of clothing, gas, and meals they eat away from home.

AndrewKemendo 9y ago

You're a dying breed though. Every trend is moving away from your status quo. Also, depending on where you are many people's "local super market" is Whole Foods - so yes Amazon literally "threatens" a large percentage of the US' local supermarket.

harryh 9y ago
Whole foods has 1.2% market share.
- AndrewKemendo 9y ago
  Doesn't matter, they are in every major market. Which means Amazon Fulfillment Centers (What Whole Foods really is now) "threaten" everything around them. [1] http://fortune.com/2017/06/16/amazon-whole-foods-stores-locations/ http://fortune.com/2017/06/16/amazon-whole-foods-stores-loca...

mzzter 9y ago

But come on, toilet paper, socks, clothes hangers, pancake mix—which are all small pieces of those other industries—are inexpensive, low risk, and low margin goods.

deevolution 9y ago

"Would I buy expensive home furnishings from Amazon? No, I like to see, touch, try these things before I spend a lot of money." I imagine AR might convince people otherwise.

AndrewKemendo 9y ago
In fact it does. We've seen 2% purchase lift on home furnishings with our AR.

tlarkworthy 9y ago

>Do I buy toilet paper from Amazon? No, because it's easier to pick it up at the store I get toilet paper on Amazon subscription. I don't even need to think about buying toilet paper, it's already there when I need it.

puranjay 9y ago

There are some things I shop exclusively online. With other things, experience has been a good teacher; I've learned to shop for them in-store. Like clothes. The experience is invariably better in stores than online. Amazon might offer better selection but I see that as a negative; I don't want to spend 2 hours just trying to find the right pair of jeans from 2,000 variants.

onion2k 9y ago

The margins on retail goods are tiny. If your local shop loses 20% of its business to a competitor it closes (or pivots). This isn't about whether or not you shop on Amazon; it's about whether or not you have any choice if enough other people shop there.

colordrops 9y ago

> Returning stuff by mail is a pain for now.

gotrecruit 9y ago
lol exactly. eventually, it will be as simple as a single click to schedule a pickup at a time of your choice.

peteretep 9y ago

> And with anything Amazon, I'm worried > about counterfeit goods. They need to get on this; they've lost ~ a thousand dollars from me this year that I've spent in previous years where I'm worried about if I'll get the real thing or not. However: > Would I buy clothes from Amazon? There's plenty of stuff I don't need to try on though. All undergarments and many shoes and pants where I know what I want already I get from Amazon. > Would I buy perishable groceries > from Amazon? I used to buy everything from Ocado when I lived in London. I'd have rather bought it from Amazon, and when they can (and maybe that's now, I'm living in Asia right now) schedule deliveries like the other supermarkets, I'll switch.

tigershark 9y ago

Amazon delivers food in slots of 1 hour whenever you want.

rmdundon 9y ago

I think it (may!) also depend on where you are located: - If you are located in a suburban / semi-rural with more stores around, you may be less likely to use Amazon - If you are in a very rural / urban area, you may be more likely to use Amazon Of course it'd probably be hard/impossible to find, but I'd like to be able to see a map of customers/purchases on Amazon in relation to urban and other areas.