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Great business logic for centralizing and automating retail distribution centers around existing infrastructure and transportation. The issue is only a small nu

Great business logic for centralizing and automating retail distribution centers around existing infrastructure and transportation. The issue is only a small number of huge malls will be converted and competing small business shop fronts are being rendered non viable which is creating significant economic repercussions

burnte 8y ago
> The issue is only a small number of huge malls will be converted and competing small business shop fronts are being rendered non viable which is creating significant economic repercussions How is turning malls into warehouses affecting small stores?
- olivermarks 8y ago
  centralizing delivery. It's no longer cost effective to go to a store, look for a product, pay for it and return home when it is cheaper to have it delivered at a specific time and day in both time and money. Small specialized businesses can't compete with this to charge the margin they need for rent and overheads. This is putting lot of shops out of business, redundancies etc
  - rossenberg79 8y ago
    Why should we care if they go out of business? If they shutdown and bow out won’t newer, useful businesses pop up in their place? I see no reason to treat a small shop like an endangered species that must be preserved. Preserved for what? Most people won’t go there anymore. Example: There was a fairly large Mom and a Pop retail store here that shutdown once Walmart moved in. What opened in its place? A massive rock climbing facility with 40 foot walls. It has enriched the community and given people something to do other than just roaming aisles looking for crap to buy and not talk to each other.
    - bognition 8y ago
      The general sentiment is that small businesses are owned and operated by our neighbors. Part of a healthy society is having a group of people with diverse backgrounds, interests, and jobs all living together. Amazon's march towards a global monopoly is partially responsible for homogenizing our society.
      - threwawasy1228 8y ago
        It is interesting, because a extremely large percentage of these small businesses that are failing are immigrant minority owned.[1] So in many ways keeping small businesses around does make things 'diverse' but it also leads to a much bigger problem. This massive amount of immigration that was meant to help keep the economy running is now failing to keep their businesses going, and falling into high rates of unemployment or underemployment. Does it really serve our economy to have a bunch of immigrants whose main mode of economic activity is starting small businesses that are not very viable, and hiring all their relatives? [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/immigrants-and-small-business.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/immigrants...
      - olivermarks 8y ago
        The essential economic problem is that currently running small retail businesses isn't viable unless you sell through Amazon's distribution (also less centralized ebay). This means far fewer retail jobs, empty storefronts and malls, taxes levied on businesses, gasoline/petrol etc The centralizing of everything through Amazon is classic monopoly practice. I have a ladder being delivered by them today I ordered on Friday evening. No one can compete on price or efficiencies both on their side and from my perspective. I don't want to drive my truck to buy a ladder. Nothing is stopping this trend form rapidly increasing across the western world
    - mlpinit 8y ago
      The problem isn't that you want to preserve an inefficient business model. A company with a monopoly like the one Amazon has, can afford to take small businesses out of the market by operating at a loss. Once the small businesses are out of the market, they can increase prices possibly above the original price level the small businesses used to offer. Without competition, smaller incumbents won't succeed. Monopolies stifle innovation. New incumbents won't have a chance.

burnte 8y ago

> The issue is only a small number of huge malls will be converted and competing small business shop fronts are being rendered non viable which is creating significant economic repercussions How is turning malls into warehouses affecting small stores?

olivermarks 8y ago
centralizing delivery. It's no longer cost effective to go to a store, look for a product, pay for it and return home when it is cheaper to have it delivered at a specific time and day in both time and money. Small specialized businesses can't compete with this to charge the margin they need for rent and overheads. This is putting lot of shops out of business, redundancies etc
- rossenberg79 8y ago
  Why should we care if they go out of business? If they shutdown and bow out won’t newer, useful businesses pop up in their place? I see no reason to treat a small shop like an endangered species that must be preserved. Preserved for what? Most people won’t go there anymore. Example: There was a fairly large Mom and a Pop retail store here that shutdown once Walmart moved in. What opened in its place? A massive rock climbing facility with 40 foot walls. It has enriched the community and given people something to do other than just roaming aisles looking for crap to buy and not talk to each other.
  - bognition 8y ago
    The general sentiment is that small businesses are owned and operated by our neighbors. Part of a healthy society is having a group of people with diverse backgrounds, interests, and jobs all living together. Amazon's march towards a global monopoly is partially responsible for homogenizing our society.
    - threwawasy1228 8y ago
      It is interesting, because a extremely large percentage of these small businesses that are failing are immigrant minority owned.[1] So in many ways keeping small businesses around does make things 'diverse' but it also leads to a much bigger problem. This massive amount of immigration that was meant to help keep the economy running is now failing to keep their businesses going, and falling into high rates of unemployment or underemployment. Does it really serve our economy to have a bunch of immigrants whose main mode of economic activity is starting small businesses that are not very viable, and hiring all their relatives? [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/immigrants-and-small-business.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/immigrants...
    - olivermarks 8y ago
      The essential economic problem is that currently running small retail businesses isn't viable unless you sell through Amazon's distribution (also less centralized ebay). This means far fewer retail jobs, empty storefronts and malls, taxes levied on businesses, gasoline/petrol etc The centralizing of everything through Amazon is classic monopoly practice. I have a ladder being delivered by them today I ordered on Friday evening. No one can compete on price or efficiencies both on their side and from my perspective. I don't want to drive my truck to buy a ladder. Nothing is stopping this trend form rapidly increasing across the western world
  - mlpinit 8y ago
    The problem isn't that you want to preserve an inefficient business model. A company with a monopoly like the one Amazon has, can afford to take small businesses out of the market by operating at a loss. Once the small businesses are out of the market, they can increase prices possibly above the original price level the small businesses used to offer. Without competition, smaller incumbents won't succeed. Monopolies stifle innovation. New incumbents won't have a chance.