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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'

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'