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I’m not sure what the point of supporting most small business retail is. If you are just selling things I can buy online, you have no reason to exist, and are j

I’m not sure what the point of supporting most small business retail is. If you are just selling things I can buy online, you have no reason to exist, and are just taking up space that can be used for other service like businesses.

Symbiote 8y ago
1) It's easier to influence a local business. "I don't like that you've stopped stocking X." 2) You may rely on the local business in some situations (urgently need something), but it can't survive on this type of custom alone. 3) The profits are much more likely to be fairly taxed and then spent in the local economy, which is positive for the community.
- ams6110 8y ago
  The local business probably isn't selling counterfeit goods.
  - kvhdude 8y ago
    How is amazon getting away with this? I have never been able to find a genuine laptop battery, phone battery etc.
    - vinay427 8y ago
      I wouldn't say they're counterfeit, assuming you mean the ones I'm thinking of. They're branded as produced by third-parties, so it's clear that they're not an OEM product. There's nothing wrong with selling replacement supplies for devices.
      - dagw 8y ago
        Amazon definitely sells straight up counterfeits as well. It's also a huge problem in the designer clothes and shoe space.
        nightfly 8y ago
        /Amazon/ doesn't sell them, but sellers using the Amazon marketplace do.
        dagw 8y ago
        True. But for most users the difference is meaningless and Amazon isn't doing much to help make the distinction clear.
- nordsieck 8y ago
  >> I’m not sure what the point of supporting most small business retail is. > 1) It's easier to influence a local business. "I don't like that you've stopped stocking X." Doubtful. Businesses everywhere care about making money. > 2) You may rely on the local business in some situations (urgently need something), but it can't survive on this type of custom alone. The local part is true, although becoming less true with Amazon et. al. providing faster and faster shipping. The small part is either irrelevant or an anti-feature. Local big businesses typically carry more stuff, and hence are more likely to carry the thing you want. I understand that there are small specialty retailers who carry goods big retailers might not, but that seems like a pretty niche case: needing something very rare right away. > 3) The profits are much more likely to be fairly taxed and then spent in the local economy, which is positive for the community. Probably not. If the difference in price is greater than the total tax collected, the community is better off buying as much as it can online. I've yet to experience a small business that can keep its prices within 10% of Amazon.
  - synotna 8y ago
    I bought a bike pump yesterday from the bike shop around the corner I checked Amazon first to have a price in mind (12€), I paid 13€ 1€ to not have something shipped to me & convenience of getting it immediately, plus helps keep the local bike shop around in case I need a repair I felt was worth it
- jstanley 8y ago
  > It's easier to influence a local business. "I don't like that you've stopped stocking X." But if you're buying online, you don't need to care that much if one particular company stops stocking something, because it's almost as easy to buy it off any other company online.
- NullPrefix 8y ago
  >2) You may rely on the local business in some situations (urgently need something), but it can't survive on this type of custom alone. This means paying premium everytime for a feature you "may rely on ... in some situations".
  - TylerE 8y ago
    Depends. Develop a good relationship with the proprietor and you'll often find yourself paying less than the price tag, especially on expensive, relatively high-margin items like musical instruments. Sometimes even less than online prices.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Fair with 2) and 3), but for 1), it's actually easier to buy X in bulk from an on-line wholesaler (especially if X is food) then it is to make a SMB business to stock it again. This may be a privileged position, but my favourite products disappearing from local shops is what made me discover that if I can afford one X every couple days, I can afford 20 X on-line, delivered; hell, it sometimes actually saves money.
mattkrause 8y ago
Discoverability is so, so much better in stores. Amazon is great if you know exactly what you need, or what to compare a few, well-defined options (especially for something like a technical book, where the reviews often highlight subjective things rather than "quality"). For a lot of things, however, I don't know exactly what I want going in. In principle, Amazon's recommender system could work here, but in practice, it hews really closely to authors, series, and topics I've already bought, with a dose of total randomness (what on earth is a "Chinchilla Lava Ledge?"). There's none of the serendipity of looking for one thing and finding something similar but better.
jakobegger 8y ago
For a lot of products being able to touch the thing makes a huge difference. Most obvious is clothes. In a store you can feel the weight of the fabric, see the color in real life, hold it to your body, or just try it on to find a shirt that really fits you. Sure, free returns are a thing, but trying more than two or three sizes to find the one that really fits you is a major hassle if you need to send packages back and forth.
- Broken_Hippo 8y ago
  Ok. How many of those times were you swayed by an actual, local business instead of a chain? Do you happen to have mom & pop clothing stores? Can a local place - not just a local branch of a chain store but an actual local place - provide benefits over a chain?
  - jakobegger 8y ago
    I was thinking more of physical stores in general, obviously chains are just as good for trying on stuff. I think the biggest benefit of small stores is specialisation. For example, we have a jeans store in our town -- they sell nothing but jeans, and they have a huge selection. Much better than any of the chains we have here. They are also the only store that stocks my size. I really like that I can buy a pair of jeans there and don't have to shorten them. Another thing that's really nice with small stores is that they can offer services that the chains cannot. Very often when I go to a store they just don't have my size any more. If it's a chain, they can sometimes check in their inventory system and see if a different store still has it in stock. But more often then not, it's the end of the season or something, and they're out, and there's no way to order it anymore. When the same thing happened to me in a local store, I was totally surprised when the sales guy just told me he'd call the seamstress and ask her to make another one in my size. A few days later I picked up my newly made shirt. Obviously, not all small mom-and-pop shops are like that -- but some are really great.

Symbiote 8y ago

1) It's easier to influence a local business. "I don't like that you've stopped stocking X." 2) You may rely on the local business in some situations (urgently need something), but it can't survive on this type of custom alone. 3) The profits are much more likely to be fairly taxed and then spent in the local economy, which is positive for the community.

ams6110 8y ago
The local business probably isn't selling counterfeit goods.
- kvhdude 8y ago
  How is amazon getting away with this? I have never been able to find a genuine laptop battery, phone battery etc.
  - vinay427 8y ago
    I wouldn't say they're counterfeit, assuming you mean the ones I'm thinking of. They're branded as produced by third-parties, so it's clear that they're not an OEM product. There's nothing wrong with selling replacement supplies for devices.
    - dagw 8y ago
      Amazon definitely sells straight up counterfeits as well. It's also a huge problem in the designer clothes and shoe space.
      - nightfly 8y ago
        /Amazon/ doesn't sell them, but sellers using the Amazon marketplace do.
        dagw 8y ago
        True. But for most users the difference is meaningless and Amazon isn't doing much to help make the distinction clear.
nordsieck 8y ago
>> I’m not sure what the point of supporting most small business retail is. > 1) It's easier to influence a local business. "I don't like that you've stopped stocking X." Doubtful. Businesses everywhere care about making money. > 2) You may rely on the local business in some situations (urgently need something), but it can't survive on this type of custom alone. The local part is true, although becoming less true with Amazon et. al. providing faster and faster shipping. The small part is either irrelevant or an anti-feature. Local big businesses typically carry more stuff, and hence are more likely to carry the thing you want. I understand that there are small specialty retailers who carry goods big retailers might not, but that seems like a pretty niche case: needing something very rare right away. > 3) The profits are much more likely to be fairly taxed and then spent in the local economy, which is positive for the community. Probably not. If the difference in price is greater than the total tax collected, the community is better off buying as much as it can online. I've yet to experience a small business that can keep its prices within 10% of Amazon.
- synotna 8y ago
  I bought a bike pump yesterday from the bike shop around the corner I checked Amazon first to have a price in mind (12€), I paid 13€ 1€ to not have something shipped to me & convenience of getting it immediately, plus helps keep the local bike shop around in case I need a repair I felt was worth it
jstanley 8y ago
> It's easier to influence a local business. "I don't like that you've stopped stocking X." But if you're buying online, you don't need to care that much if one particular company stops stocking something, because it's almost as easy to buy it off any other company online.
NullPrefix 8y ago
>2) You may rely on the local business in some situations (urgently need something), but it can't survive on this type of custom alone. This means paying premium everytime for a feature you "may rely on ... in some situations".
- TylerE 8y ago
  Depends. Develop a good relationship with the proprietor and you'll often find yourself paying less than the price tag, especially on expensive, relatively high-margin items like musical instruments. Sometimes even less than online prices.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
Fair with 2) and 3), but for 1), it's actually easier to buy X in bulk from an on-line wholesaler (especially if X is food) then it is to make a SMB business to stock it again. This may be a privileged position, but my favourite products disappearing from local shops is what made me discover that if I can afford one X every couple days, I can afford 20 X on-line, delivered; hell, it sometimes actually saves money.

mattkrause 8y ago

Discoverability is so, so much better in stores. Amazon is great if you know exactly what you need, or what to compare a few, well-defined options (especially for something like a technical book, where the reviews often highlight subjective things rather than "quality"). For a lot of things, however, I don't know exactly what I want going in. In principle, Amazon's recommender system could work here, but in practice, it hews really closely to authors, series, and topics I've already bought, with a dose of total randomness (what on earth is a "Chinchilla Lava Ledge?"). There's none of the serendipity of looking for one thing and finding something similar but better.

jakobegger 8y ago

For a lot of products being able to touch the thing makes a huge difference. Most obvious is clothes. In a store you can feel the weight of the fabric, see the color in real life, hold it to your body, or just try it on to find a shirt that really fits you. Sure, free returns are a thing, but trying more than two or three sizes to find the one that really fits you is a major hassle if you need to send packages back and forth.

Broken_Hippo 8y ago
Ok. How many of those times were you swayed by an actual, local business instead of a chain? Do you happen to have mom & pop clothing stores? Can a local place - not just a local branch of a chain store but an actual local place - provide benefits over a chain?
- jakobegger 8y ago
  I was thinking more of physical stores in general, obviously chains are just as good for trying on stuff. I think the biggest benefit of small stores is specialisation. For example, we have a jeans store in our town -- they sell nothing but jeans, and they have a huge selection. Much better than any of the chains we have here. They are also the only store that stocks my size. I really like that I can buy a pair of jeans there and don't have to shorten them. Another thing that's really nice with small stores is that they can offer services that the chains cannot. Very often when I go to a store they just don't have my size any more. If it's a chain, they can sometimes check in their inventory system and see if a different store still has it in stock. But more often then not, it's the end of the season or something, and they're out, and there's no way to order it anymore. When the same thing happened to me in a local store, I was totally surprised when the sales guy just told me he'd call the seamstress and ask her to make another one in my size. A few days later I picked up my newly made shirt. Obviously, not all small mom-and-pop shops are like that -- but some are really great.