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Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. However the last item I bought from Best Buy was a TV (my old LG just ... died). Ordered online, chose to

Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. However the last item I bought from Best Buy was a TV (my old LG just ... died). Ordered online, chose to pick up in store. Drive 35 min to store Pickup process takes 10-15 min Drive 35 min home. Left after dinner, was watching it that evening. The only condition that would have prevented me from using this model would be traffic, as it could extend the trip by 60-90 minutes and would also increase my stress significantly. Whereas Amazon would take 2-3 days (maybe more) and I'd be shitting bricks worrying about it getting damaged and being forced through the horrors of shipping a return.

gnicholas 8y ago
One reason Best Buy is still alive is that they effectively price discriminate between online buyers and in-store buyers. I saw a deal for a 48” Vizio TV on bestbuy.com for $206 (in 2016, this was a screaming deal). I ordered for in-store pickup. When I went to the store, I saw the TV was listed for sale at $400 or so, with no indication of a better price online. So Best Buy makes tons of money off folks who wander in, while doing good volume on online sales with lower margins.
- joshlegs 8y ago
  I mean, convenience has a cost/value. Moseying to your local retailer and walking out with a thing has value. Now, whether that's ~$194 of value, IDK. But like the original commenter, the thing I love about Best Buy (and other mortar and brick retailers) is the "I dont have to wait on shipping and lost orders" thing.
- mgbmtl 8y ago
  Oddly, I've had the opposite experience (in Canada): the online price would be the same as on Amazon. I wanted it now, so I went to the store (even though I hate driving to the suburbs/shopping mall), only to see that the item was 10% cheaper in the store. (we always pay taxes for online purchases, so taxes are a non-issue)
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    How strange! I’d think that anyone who caught onto this pattern would check the in-store price before completing the pickup. If the price is lower in-store, you could just cancel the online order and purchase off the shelf!
    - mgbmtl 8y ago
      Ah, to clarify: I would not bother ordering online, so it was a pleasant surprise to find the lower price in-store.
- sjg007 8y ago
  I think the line that they use is that bestbuy.com is a different business then best buy. something like that.
  - dhimes 8y ago
    A lot of stores have that model- effectively putting online in competition with brick and mortar. I heard the founder of Staples (Stemberg) speak to this early in e-retail. Somebody asked how they were handling the upcoming online pressure, and he said they made it a separate unit with their own strategies, etc.
- megy 8y ago
  You think it is free to have that building, that staff, the parking lot, the electricity??
  - Retra 8y ago
    You need all that even if you're just running a warehouse.
MichaelApproved 8y ago
> Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. I do too but can we say "most" Americans? Are there any stats available on their customers? I wonder, how many Americans have purchased at least one thing on Amazon? How many have in the past year? What's the average spend per customer per year?
- throwawaymath 8y ago
  Here you go: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/06/17/sixty-four-percent-of-u-s-households-have-amazon-prime/#54b85ee14586 https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/06/17/sixty-four... tl;dr: As of June 2017, 64% of American households had Amazon Prime. 43% of all American dollars spent online are spent at Amazon.
  - bachmeier 8y ago
    Hate to be that guy, but I have Amazon Prime in my household because my wife uses it just enough to be worthwhile. She makes only a small percentage of her purchases there, and the others in our household make none. The 43% figure is more relevant, and that's 43% of a relatively small share of all consumer spending, with much of it being done by a small group of large Amazon customers. So I don't think it's accurate to say most people buy a shitload of stuff from Amazon.
    - prepend 8y ago
      Amazon’s US retail revenue was $318B for 2017 [0]. There are 126M households in the US in census’ 2017 data [1]. Thats $2,500/household. That’s definitely a shitload bought by most people. Comically shitloads are pretty cheap and are $210/ton (a big pickup kid) if you’re in New Hampshire [2]. So pedantically, we’re all buying 10 shitloads. [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/15/amazons-us-sales-to-match-walmarts-within-three-years-jp-morgan-predicts.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/15/amazons-us-sales-to-match-wa... [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/183635/number-of-households-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/183635/number-of-househo... [2] https://www.milessmithfarm.com/farming-products.html https://www.milessmithfarm.com/farming-products.html
stephengillie 8y ago
Bought a TV from Amazon about 10 years ago. UPS couldn't deliver on the scheduled delivery day because the box was too big, and was stuck at the back of the truck. So I had to skip a day of work for no reason. They delivered it the next day in the early morning. Sometimes, shipping issues are truly not Amazon's fault. Yet still they can impact us.
jmuguy 8y ago
I ordered a TV from Amazon. They use a third party service that schedules delivery with you. Two dudes came out with TV, unboxed and set it up (put on stand, plugged in power to verify its working). A few days after delivery I noticed a red line running along the top of the screen. Contacted Amazon about replacement. There was some issue with doing a direct replacement so they had me purchase another TV and then refunded the cost. Dude comes out and picks up busted TV, puts it in box. New dudes come out a few days later with new TV. All of that is to say - it really wasn't a big deal to order it online. Shipping was still free. Also they took packaging material with them, so it was nice not having to deal with disposing of a gigantic box.
- notheguyouthink 8y ago
  Interesting. We ordered one from Amazon, I think a 50inch, and it was put on our front doorstep in the tv box. It was undamaged thankfully, but it looked like a normal Fedex(or w/e) driver, not a special delivery at all.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    I can second that. I’ve ordered 3 TVs from Amazon over the past two years - all relatively cheap TCL Roku TVs ( < $350), a 32, 49, and 55. One was lost in transit and I ended up cancelling the order. Another didn’t arrive when they said it should so I ended up picking it up from UPS. I had to unbox it to get it in my car. I probably wouldn’t trust Amazon for a more expensive purchase.
- sfkjlkfagfj 8y ago
  Same experience for me. The first time, I bought TV from Amazon I was a bit nervous. But the experience was so great. No need to drive to store, find parking, fit huge box in my tiny car, park car in loading area, unload, move car.... so on. Since then I have bought more TVs for myself and helped friends and family who were reluctant to order online. No bad experience so far.
- josefresco 8y ago
  Did you pay extra to have it unboxed and turned on? How much was the TV? I'm wondering at what level, or price they offer this service? The TV I purchased was not expensive, and the Amazon alternative was one of their "house brands" with Alexa integrated so I wonder if they'd provide the same level of service. Did they schedule the delivery with you or did they just show up?
nwsm 8y ago
Why is Best Buy's shipping from DC to store less worrysome than Amazon's from DC to your house?
- josefresco 8y ago
  Good point. The difference being that "last mile", where I feel the transport has many more variables than a massive Best Buy truck moving merchandise from warehouse to store. It's also in Best Buy's interest to not damage the shit they're going to sell, whereas once the package is bought, and handed off to UPS/USPS/FedEx responsibility gets murky and easier to shirk. The other major difference is my "return anxiety". If I get home and my TV doesn't work, I hop back in the car and swap it for a new one (round trip maybe 2 hours).
gwbas1c 8y ago
I bought two TVs from Best Buy and one from Amazon. For both of the TVs, Best Buy tried to sell me insurance. They used the "refuse to take no for an answer" tactic. In both cases I had to say, "if you say another word about the insurance I'm going to walk out." I really meant it, too. Amazon's shipper lugged my TV up two flights of stairs to a 3rd floor apartment.

gnicholas 8y ago

One reason Best Buy is still alive is that they effectively price discriminate between online buyers and in-store buyers. I saw a deal for a 48” Vizio TV on bestbuy.com for $206 (in 2016, this was a screaming deal). I ordered for in-store pickup. When I went to the store, I saw the TV was listed for sale at $400 or so, with no indication of a better price online. So Best Buy makes tons of money off folks who wander in, while doing good volume on online sales with lower margins.

joshlegs 8y ago
I mean, convenience has a cost/value. Moseying to your local retailer and walking out with a thing has value. Now, whether that's ~$194 of value, IDK. But like the original commenter, the thing I love about Best Buy (and other mortar and brick retailers) is the "I dont have to wait on shipping and lost orders" thing.
mgbmtl 8y ago
Oddly, I've had the opposite experience (in Canada): the online price would be the same as on Amazon. I wanted it now, so I went to the store (even though I hate driving to the suburbs/shopping mall), only to see that the item was 10% cheaper in the store. (we always pay taxes for online purchases, so taxes are a non-issue)
- gnicholas 8y ago
  How strange! I’d think that anyone who caught onto this pattern would check the in-store price before completing the pickup. If the price is lower in-store, you could just cancel the online order and purchase off the shelf!
  - mgbmtl 8y ago
    Ah, to clarify: I would not bother ordering online, so it was a pleasant surprise to find the lower price in-store.
sjg007 8y ago
I think the line that they use is that bestbuy.com is a different business then best buy. something like that.
- dhimes 8y ago
  A lot of stores have that model- effectively putting online in competition with brick and mortar. I heard the founder of Staples (Stemberg) speak to this early in e-retail. Somebody asked how they were handling the upcoming online pressure, and he said they made it a separate unit with their own strategies, etc.
megy 8y ago
You think it is free to have that building, that staff, the parking lot, the electricity??
- Retra 8y ago
  You need all that even if you're just running a warehouse.

MichaelApproved 8y ago

> Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. I do too but can we say "most" Americans? Are there any stats available on their customers? I wonder, how many Americans have purchased at least one thing on Amazon? How many have in the past year? What's the average spend per customer per year?

throwawaymath 8y ago
Here you go: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/06/17/sixty-four-percent-of-u-s-households-have-amazon-prime/#54b85ee14586 https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/06/17/sixty-four... tl;dr: As of June 2017, 64% of American households had Amazon Prime. 43% of all American dollars spent online are spent at Amazon.
- bachmeier 8y ago
  Hate to be that guy, but I have Amazon Prime in my household because my wife uses it just enough to be worthwhile. She makes only a small percentage of her purchases there, and the others in our household make none. The 43% figure is more relevant, and that's 43% of a relatively small share of all consumer spending, with much of it being done by a small group of large Amazon customers. So I don't think it's accurate to say most people buy a shitload of stuff from Amazon.
  - prepend 8y ago
    Amazon’s US retail revenue was $318B for 2017 [0]. There are 126M households in the US in census’ 2017 data [1]. Thats $2,500/household. That’s definitely a shitload bought by most people. Comically shitloads are pretty cheap and are $210/ton (a big pickup kid) if you’re in New Hampshire [2]. So pedantically, we’re all buying 10 shitloads. [0] https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/15/amazons-us-sales-to-match-walmarts-within-three-years-jp-morgan-predicts.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/15/amazons-us-sales-to-match-wa... [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/183635/number-of-households-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/183635/number-of-househo... [2] https://www.milessmithfarm.com/farming-products.html https://www.milessmithfarm.com/farming-products.html

stephengillie 8y ago

Bought a TV from Amazon about 10 years ago. UPS couldn't deliver on the scheduled delivery day because the box was too big, and was stuck at the back of the truck. So I had to skip a day of work for no reason. They delivered it the next day in the early morning. Sometimes, shipping issues are truly not Amazon's fault. Yet still they can impact us.

jmuguy 8y ago

I ordered a TV from Amazon. They use a third party service that schedules delivery with you. Two dudes came out with TV, unboxed and set it up (put on stand, plugged in power to verify its working). A few days after delivery I noticed a red line running along the top of the screen. Contacted Amazon about replacement. There was some issue with doing a direct replacement so they had me purchase another TV and then refunded the cost. Dude comes out and picks up busted TV, puts it in box. New dudes come out a few days later with new TV. All of that is to say - it really wasn't a big deal to order it online. Shipping was still free. Also they took packaging material with them, so it was nice not having to deal with disposing of a gigantic box.

notheguyouthink 8y ago
Interesting. We ordered one from Amazon, I think a 50inch, and it was put on our front doorstep in the tv box. It was undamaged thankfully, but it looked like a normal Fedex(or w/e) driver, not a special delivery at all.
- scarface74 8y ago
  I can second that. I’ve ordered 3 TVs from Amazon over the past two years - all relatively cheap TCL Roku TVs ( < $350), a 32, 49, and 55. One was lost in transit and I ended up cancelling the order. Another didn’t arrive when they said it should so I ended up picking it up from UPS. I had to unbox it to get it in my car. I probably wouldn’t trust Amazon for a more expensive purchase.
sfkjlkfagfj 8y ago
Same experience for me. The first time, I bought TV from Amazon I was a bit nervous. But the experience was so great. No need to drive to store, find parking, fit huge box in my tiny car, park car in loading area, unload, move car.... so on. Since then I have bought more TVs for myself and helped friends and family who were reluctant to order online. No bad experience so far.
josefresco 8y ago
Did you pay extra to have it unboxed and turned on? How much was the TV? I'm wondering at what level, or price they offer this service? The TV I purchased was not expensive, and the Amazon alternative was one of their "house brands" with Alexa integrated so I wonder if they'd provide the same level of service. Did they schedule the delivery with you or did they just show up?

nwsm 8y ago

Why is Best Buy's shipping from DC to store less worrysome than Amazon's from DC to your house?

josefresco 8y ago
Good point. The difference being that "last mile", where I feel the transport has many more variables than a massive Best Buy truck moving merchandise from warehouse to store. It's also in Best Buy's interest to not damage the shit they're going to sell, whereas once the package is bought, and handed off to UPS/USPS/FedEx responsibility gets murky and easier to shirk. The other major difference is my "return anxiety". If I get home and my TV doesn't work, I hop back in the car and swap it for a new one (round trip maybe 2 hours).

gwbas1c 8y ago

I bought two TVs from Best Buy and one from Amazon. For both of the TVs, Best Buy tried to sell me insurance. They used the "refuse to take no for an answer" tactic. In both cases I had to say, "if you say another word about the insurance I'm going to walk out." I really meant it, too. Amazon's shipper lugged my TV up two flights of stairs to a 3rd floor apartment.