5 ms·

Amazon Launches Own Pet Product Brand, Wag

22 points by 2_listerine_pls 8y ago

bhhaskin 8y ago
Amazon is slowly eating the world of retail. The amount of pure power that Amazon has is a scary thought.
- dazc 8y ago
  I'm in 2 minds about this. Obviously, amazon having all the power is a bad thing but if it helps eliminate the sheer volume of absolute cr*p currently listed, I'm all for it. [not specifically dog food]
  - mrgreenfur 8y ago
    You're arguing that less competition is good?
    - dazc 8y ago
      I'm trying not to but, really, is the current situation better? How often do we see threads here about fake goods on amazon?
      - mrgreenfur 8y ago
        I don't get why people are worried about this. This is Amazon's problem to solve and a core challenge of running an open marketplace. Let them deal with it. I'm worried that Amazon will use their power to unfairly compete with all of retail since they already control so much of e-commerce. I don't understand why tech folks aren't more worried about the concentration of market power in amazon & facebook.
        LyndsySimon 8y ago
        > This is Amazon's problem to solve and a core challenge of running an open marketplace. Let them deal with it. If they don't solve it someone else will, and that someone else will destroy the perceived monopoly of Amazon. Alternatively Amazon will acquire them... in which case, Amazon will have solved it :)
        reaperducer 8y ago
        >This is Amazon's problem to solve Until some adulterated fake dog food kills your dog. Then it's your problem.
    - mcmacintosh 8y ago
      I guess he/she is arguing that the competition pressure from Amazon contributes in forcing sub-par offerings to get their act together or closing. Whether its level of competition is sustainable is the other side of the medal though.
    - jakevn 8y ago
      Is it really competition if one of the competitors doesn't need to be profitable? How do you compete with that?
  - Ours90 8y ago
    I agree that there's a lot of low quality staff on amazon, but hey, it's not ebay, not everyone can post everything there for selling, so Amazon is kind of responsible for what's listed there. I don't think that monopolizing market is a good idea.. a healthy competition keeps the quality level of the products high.
    - solarkraft 8y ago
      > So Amazon is kind of responsible for what's listed there They don't want to be and they're not really acting like it. Thus their store's quality is similar to or below that of ebay and far below that of directly chinese stores like Banggood or Ali Express.
      - Ours90 8y ago
        >They don't want to be That's a very good point. I don't see how they expect their costumers to believe in quality of their own products with this attitude.
      - LyndsySimon 8y ago
        > Thus their store's quality is similar to or below that of ebay and far below that of directly chinese stores like Banggood or Ali Express. I've been using Alibaba/Ali Express more often lately, and am finding that they are improving rapidly. For most products manufactured in Asia, they're significantly cheaper. Quality is more consistent. It's not that everything there is better quality, but that you can more easily determine the level of quality you're willing to pay for and can be relatively confident what you're going to get. Shipping time and (perceived) shipping cost are the big things that prevent Ali from growing rapidly in the US market. They're a few warehouses away from being a serious competitor to Amazon's retail business.
- radiorental 8y ago
  > slowly I'd say rapidly. And, it's really hard to see how they can be stopped. They're now capable disrupting any market they choose. On the one hand, this can be a good thing, i.e Healthcare. On the other I feel like we're going to end up with something like Pixar's 'Buy-N-Large'
  - vthallam 8y ago
    > it's really hard to see how they can be stopped I know it's hard. But I was counting on Google Express being really really good in delivery and item availability. They partner with retailers in helping their products get more discovery and handle some logistics. I'd take 2 players competing vs one large player any day.
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      I'd like to like Google Express, but it's just not a good competitor for Prime in my market. I ordered something from a department store down the street. It ended up getting shipped out of San Francisco, and took over a week to arrive. I could have ordered and returned something via Prime three times in the amount of time it took Google to send me something. Plus, the selection is very limited. But that might just be my market.
  - wgerard 8y ago
    > They're now capable disrupting any market they choose. Ehhh, I think you're really glossing over Amazon's failures here; they've tried to get into some markets and gotten pretty well demolished. If they've learned anything from those failures, it certainly isn't obvious.
    - radiorental 8y ago
      Which markets have they entered and failed? They are certainly hit or miss on product design but their execution entering markets has been a high successful formula. Razor thin margins until the competition bleeds to death. I would like to understand examples of where they failed there? I will also grant you that they do take a big of a 'see what sticks to the wall' approach to innovation. But do not mistake rapid iteration as a singular 'failure'
dbcurtis 8y ago
Lawsuit with Wag hotel for pets in 3... 2... 1...
- notyourwork 8y ago
  Amazon owns wag.com as part of an acquisition. I doubt a lawsuit will go far.
- s3r3nity 8y ago
  Are you referring to WagWalking.com? Or the wag.com, which Amazon acquired as part of the Quidsi purchase - of which Amazon subsequently shut down? https://consumerist.com/2017/03/29/amazon-will-shut-down-diapers-com-and-wag-com-parent-quidsi/ https://consumerist.com/2017/03/29/amazon-will-shut-down-dia...
givinguflac 8y ago
I’m getting increasingly uncomfortable with the sheer number of markets Amazon is getting into. I don’t like putting all my eggs in one basket, and I tend to move my business elsewhere when I see a company getting to big for its britches like this. I’ve moved to target for most things I’d get on amazon and am quite content for now.
- notyourwork 8y ago
  As a consumer why do you care?
  - solarkraft 8y ago
    I want to support competition, encouraging all companies to give me a fair offer. Amazon seems to do that for now, but their power is increasing by the day. I'm not really a fan of that.
    - notyourwork 8y ago
      Supporting competition exists and I think everyone on theory wants to support it. However, at the end of the day consumers prioritize their own immediate concerns over long term economic concerns. I find it fascinating how humans have such trouble operating in context of big picture and make so many short sighted decisions.
  - sct202 8y ago
    For me personally, the more a company tries to do, the less I trust them to do everything right.
    - Ours90 8y ago
      +1 on that one. What I don't get is that they are already giants, why would they undermine and hinder other companies from developing? I found this article very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-competitive_practices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-competitive_practices
awat 8y ago
This one is interesting to me. As someone with a brand new puppy (not our first dog) I’ve noticed Pet Smart my only local pet-store charging higher and higher prices. It’s gotten to the point where we are now buying some of the same products at Target who also has thier own brand.
- cptskippy 8y ago
  Well Petco and PetsMart are the same company so there isn't really any competition in that space.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    And PetsMart owns Chewy, the online competitor that Amazon is going after.
rapfaria 8y ago
Problem is if my dog likes this and they shut it down in 10 months.
- bloopernova 8y ago
  They're not Google ;) More seriously, I remember when Amazon was this amazing book seller in the US and me (back in the UK) ordered from them because certain books were coming out sooner in the USA. I get why they expanded and ate everything around them, I know that they probably wouldn't exist if they hadn't done that. But I do wish they could have done it by treating their employees better, and making the world better instead of just available faster.
Xuper 8y ago
Based on what is going on with marriage/divorce rates, getting on any pet-related stock/market will be an extremely smart move mid/long term.
- zerostar07 8y ago
  fear not! facebook is launching a dating service
cptskippy 8y ago
Is this really any different than any other store brand? Is there a retailer that doesn't do this?
- petra 8y ago
  The context here is Amazon, a company that is great at killing the value of brands(via for ex. reviews, Alexa, more info), is going strong into private labels. That's different.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

bhhaskin 8y ago

Amazon is slowly eating the world of retail. The amount of pure power that Amazon has is a scary thought.

dazc 8y ago
I'm in 2 minds about this. Obviously, amazon having all the power is a bad thing but if it helps eliminate the sheer volume of absolute cr*p currently listed, I'm all for it. [not specifically dog food]
- mrgreenfur 8y ago
  You're arguing that less competition is good?
  - dazc 8y ago
    I'm trying not to but, really, is the current situation better? How often do we see threads here about fake goods on amazon?
    - mrgreenfur 8y ago
      I don't get why people are worried about this. This is Amazon's problem to solve and a core challenge of running an open marketplace. Let them deal with it. I'm worried that Amazon will use their power to unfairly compete with all of retail since they already control so much of e-commerce. I don't understand why tech folks aren't more worried about the concentration of market power in amazon & facebook.
      - LyndsySimon 8y ago
        > This is Amazon's problem to solve and a core challenge of running an open marketplace. Let them deal with it. If they don't solve it someone else will, and that someone else will destroy the perceived monopoly of Amazon. Alternatively Amazon will acquire them... in which case, Amazon will have solved it :)
      - reaperducer 8y ago
        >This is Amazon's problem to solve Until some adulterated fake dog food kills your dog. Then it's your problem.
  - mcmacintosh 8y ago
    I guess he/she is arguing that the competition pressure from Amazon contributes in forcing sub-par offerings to get their act together or closing. Whether its level of competition is sustainable is the other side of the medal though.
  - jakevn 8y ago
    Is it really competition if one of the competitors doesn't need to be profitable? How do you compete with that?
- Ours90 8y ago
  I agree that there's a lot of low quality staff on amazon, but hey, it's not ebay, not everyone can post everything there for selling, so Amazon is kind of responsible for what's listed there. I don't think that monopolizing market is a good idea.. a healthy competition keeps the quality level of the products high.
  - solarkraft 8y ago
    > So Amazon is kind of responsible for what's listed there They don't want to be and they're not really acting like it. Thus their store's quality is similar to or below that of ebay and far below that of directly chinese stores like Banggood or Ali Express.
    - Ours90 8y ago
      >They don't want to be That's a very good point. I don't see how they expect their costumers to believe in quality of their own products with this attitude.
    - LyndsySimon 8y ago
      > Thus their store's quality is similar to or below that of ebay and far below that of directly chinese stores like Banggood or Ali Express. I've been using Alibaba/Ali Express more often lately, and am finding that they are improving rapidly. For most products manufactured in Asia, they're significantly cheaper. Quality is more consistent. It's not that everything there is better quality, but that you can more easily determine the level of quality you're willing to pay for and can be relatively confident what you're going to get. Shipping time and (perceived) shipping cost are the big things that prevent Ali from growing rapidly in the US market. They're a few warehouses away from being a serious competitor to Amazon's retail business.
radiorental 8y ago
> slowly I'd say rapidly. And, it's really hard to see how they can be stopped. They're now capable disrupting any market they choose. On the one hand, this can be a good thing, i.e Healthcare. On the other I feel like we're going to end up with something like Pixar's 'Buy-N-Large'
- vthallam 8y ago
  > it's really hard to see how they can be stopped I know it's hard. But I was counting on Google Express being really really good in delivery and item availability. They partner with retailers in helping their products get more discovery and handle some logistics. I'd take 2 players competing vs one large player any day.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    I'd like to like Google Express, but it's just not a good competitor for Prime in my market. I ordered something from a department store down the street. It ended up getting shipped out of San Francisco, and took over a week to arrive. I could have ordered and returned something via Prime three times in the amount of time it took Google to send me something. Plus, the selection is very limited. But that might just be my market.
- wgerard 8y ago
  > They're now capable disrupting any market they choose. Ehhh, I think you're really glossing over Amazon's failures here; they've tried to get into some markets and gotten pretty well demolished. If they've learned anything from those failures, it certainly isn't obvious.
  - radiorental 8y ago
    Which markets have they entered and failed? They are certainly hit or miss on product design but their execution entering markets has been a high successful formula. Razor thin margins until the competition bleeds to death. I would like to understand examples of where they failed there? I will also grant you that they do take a big of a 'see what sticks to the wall' approach to innovation. But do not mistake rapid iteration as a singular 'failure'

dbcurtis 8y ago

Lawsuit with Wag hotel for pets in 3... 2... 1...

notyourwork 8y ago
Amazon owns wag.com as part of an acquisition. I doubt a lawsuit will go far.
s3r3nity 8y ago
Are you referring to WagWalking.com? Or the wag.com, which Amazon acquired as part of the Quidsi purchase - of which Amazon subsequently shut down? https://consumerist.com/2017/03/29/amazon-will-shut-down-diapers-com-and-wag-com-parent-quidsi/ https://consumerist.com/2017/03/29/amazon-will-shut-down-dia...

givinguflac 8y ago

I’m getting increasingly uncomfortable with the sheer number of markets Amazon is getting into. I don’t like putting all my eggs in one basket, and I tend to move my business elsewhere when I see a company getting to big for its britches like this. I’ve moved to target for most things I’d get on amazon and am quite content for now.

notyourwork 8y ago
As a consumer why do you care?
- solarkraft 8y ago
  I want to support competition, encouraging all companies to give me a fair offer. Amazon seems to do that for now, but their power is increasing by the day. I'm not really a fan of that.
  - notyourwork 8y ago
    Supporting competition exists and I think everyone on theory wants to support it. However, at the end of the day consumers prioritize their own immediate concerns over long term economic concerns. I find it fascinating how humans have such trouble operating in context of big picture and make so many short sighted decisions.
- sct202 8y ago
  For me personally, the more a company tries to do, the less I trust them to do everything right.
  - Ours90 8y ago
    +1 on that one. What I don't get is that they are already giants, why would they undermine and hinder other companies from developing? I found this article very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-competitive_practices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-competitive_practices

awat 8y ago

This one is interesting to me. As someone with a brand new puppy (not our first dog) I’ve noticed Pet Smart my only local pet-store charging higher and higher prices. It’s gotten to the point where we are now buying some of the same products at Target who also has thier own brand.

cptskippy 8y ago
Well Petco and PetsMart are the same company so there isn't really any competition in that space.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  And PetsMart owns Chewy, the online competitor that Amazon is going after.

rapfaria 8y ago

Problem is if my dog likes this and they shut it down in 10 months.

bloopernova 8y ago
They're not Google ;) More seriously, I remember when Amazon was this amazing book seller in the US and me (back in the UK) ordered from them because certain books were coming out sooner in the USA. I get why they expanded and ate everything around them, I know that they probably wouldn't exist if they hadn't done that. But I do wish they could have done it by treating their employees better, and making the world better instead of just available faster.

Xuper 8y ago

Based on what is going on with marriage/divorce rates, getting on any pet-related stock/market will be an extremely smart move mid/long term.

zerostar07 8y ago
fear not! facebook is launching a dating service

cptskippy 8y ago

Is this really any different than any other store brand? Is there a retailer that doesn't do this?

petra 8y ago
The context here is Amazon, a company that is great at killing the value of brands(via for ex. reviews, Alexa, more info), is going strong into private labels. That's different.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]