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This isn't terribly surprising: it's an inferior business model to online sales. They put too many obstacles between the customer and the checkout counter. The

This isn't terribly surprising: it's an inferior business model to online sales. They put too many obstacles between the customer and the checkout counter. The customer had to travel, potentially long distances. Then they had to wander the aisles looking for the product, compare it without any unbiased third party reviews. Then they had to travel back home. This all added friction, not to mention the overall price of the products. All the opulence of those stores came from high operating costs, which were ultimately borne by the customer. The sales staff expertise came with commission-based sales, which meant you could never really trust the salesperson because they had a vested interest in making a sale whether the product was good or not. Mourning the loss of department stores is like bemoaning the loss of fancy horse carriages.

com2kid 2y ago
Compare that to todays model where I get to spend hours scrolling through Amazon listings of mostly the same product sold by different vendors, except occasionally there are small (but significant) differences. I don't get to see or touch the product until it arrives. For the product categories that still have recognizable brands (fewer and fewer every day it seems like) I am 100% reliant upon online reviewers, many of whom are biased and paid by the brands they are supposed to be reviewing. Amazon makes a lot of money by showing ads on their own site, so they are incentivized to keep me scrolling through page after page of listings crammed with ads, for as long as I can tolerate before I actually do make a purchase.
- musicale 2y ago
  I'm a fan of the seemingly randomly chosen brand names on Amazon.
- prmoustache 2y ago
  I buy a lot online and almost never on amazon, preferring shops focusing on a specific domain. I am pretty sure amazon/aliexpress model will be dying too at some point, because of the search nightmare, inexistent warranty and unreliable reviews.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
  He did say "inferior business model". Not inferior customer experience.
willismichael 2y ago
unbiased third party reviews Where can I find these unbiased third party reviews?
- musicale 2y ago
  Consumer Reports, or what is left of it?
  - potato3732842 2y ago
    >Consumer Reports They're not great either these days. They're pretty much in the business of affirming their readers preexisting viewpoints with a little bit of actual content sprinkled in. I find that reading amazon reviews worst first looking for failure modes to gauge a product's limits is more productive.
    - Der_Einzige 2y ago
      I always got the feeling that their car statistics were so divorced from reality that they’re recommendations are worse than useless: they seem to genuinely recommend outright bad cars now.
- dmonitor 2y ago
  searching the product name and appending "reddit" to the query
  - Der_Einzige 2y ago
    That doesn’t work at all anymore for many products for two reasons: 1. Astroturfing 2. Redditor incompetence. As it turns out, Reddit doesn’t know shit about a lot of large purchases. Reddit thinks that pottery barn makes some of the best furniture and that I should buy from them, rather than negotiating and buying from a top furniture maker like Hancock and Moore. I ended up with a furniture set which is at least 3X better for the same price by ignoring what idiot redditors told me to do.

com2kid 2y ago

Compare that to todays model where I get to spend hours scrolling through Amazon listings of mostly the same product sold by different vendors, except occasionally there are small (but significant) differences. I don't get to see or touch the product until it arrives. For the product categories that still have recognizable brands (fewer and fewer every day it seems like) I am 100% reliant upon online reviewers, many of whom are biased and paid by the brands they are supposed to be reviewing. Amazon makes a lot of money by showing ads on their own site, so they are incentivized to keep me scrolling through page after page of listings crammed with ads, for as long as I can tolerate before I actually do make a purchase.

musicale 2y ago
I'm a fan of the seemingly randomly chosen brand names on Amazon.
prmoustache 2y ago
I buy a lot online and almost never on amazon, preferring shops focusing on a specific domain. I am pretty sure amazon/aliexpress model will be dying too at some point, because of the search nightmare, inexistent warranty and unreliable reviews.
NoMoreNicksLeft 2y ago
He did say "inferior business model". Not inferior customer experience.

willismichael 2y ago

unbiased third party reviews Where can I find these unbiased third party reviews?

musicale 2y ago
Consumer Reports, or what is left of it?
- potato3732842 2y ago
  >Consumer Reports They're not great either these days. They're pretty much in the business of affirming their readers preexisting viewpoints with a little bit of actual content sprinkled in. I find that reading amazon reviews worst first looking for failure modes to gauge a product's limits is more productive.
  - Der_Einzige 2y ago
    I always got the feeling that their car statistics were so divorced from reality that they’re recommendations are worse than useless: they seem to genuinely recommend outright bad cars now.
dmonitor 2y ago
searching the product name and appending "reddit" to the query
- Der_Einzige 2y ago
  That doesn’t work at all anymore for many products for two reasons: 1. Astroturfing 2. Redditor incompetence. As it turns out, Reddit doesn’t know shit about a lot of large purchases. Reddit thinks that pottery barn makes some of the best furniture and that I should buy from them, rather than negotiating and buying from a top furniture maker like Hancock and Moore. I ended up with a furniture set which is at least 3X better for the same price by ignoring what idiot redditors told me to do.