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I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon spent more on new fulfillment centers this year than they did on their entire web facing development team for the past three y

I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon spent more on new fulfillment centers this year than they did on their entire web facing development team for the past three years. Amazon is an internet company in the same way that WalMart is a parking lot company.

riggins 13y ago
if you think its all about fulfillment centers, Walmart has a pretty incredible logistics operation. The big brick and mortar companies have warehouse operations as well. Plus, with Sears and Walmart already using their stores as fulfillment centers its not hard to see that some of that brick and mortar space will get converted to 'fulfillment' centers (I just call them warehouses). So then ask yourself, is warehouse capacity going to be constrained? Or will there be lots of warehouse space and lots of people who can create a web frontend to pair with that warehouse space? Look, I love Amazon, I'm just telling you the 'low cost provider' wins thesis is one that people repeatedly get wrong because the low cost is often due to a technological advance that results in overcapacity in the industry.
- saosebastiao 13y ago
  If you think of a warehouse as just a place to put stuff, then yeah, there has been a glut of capacity for over a hundred years now. Walmart has an incredible transportation logistics system. I have no problem admitting they do it better than Amazon. But WalMart still cant compete on fulfillment. Throw in the worlds largest inventory selection (I'm guessing at least an order of magnitude larger than WalMart as a whole, and about 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than an individual WalMart store), and the ability to guarantee same day fulfillment, and Walmart doesn't even come close. Remember, even then, you are comparing Walmart to Amazon...not JoeSchmoe.com to Amazon. If you think it just amounts to putting things in a box and calling UPS for a pickup, I double dog dare you to compete with Amazon. It doesn't get any closer to a pennies-on-the-dollar comparison.
atopuzov 13y ago
Totally!

riggins 13y ago

if you think its all about fulfillment centers, Walmart has a pretty incredible logistics operation. The big brick and mortar companies have warehouse operations as well. Plus, with Sears and Walmart already using their stores as fulfillment centers its not hard to see that some of that brick and mortar space will get converted to 'fulfillment' centers (I just call them warehouses). So then ask yourself, is warehouse capacity going to be constrained? Or will there be lots of warehouse space and lots of people who can create a web frontend to pair with that warehouse space? Look, I love Amazon, I'm just telling you the 'low cost provider' wins thesis is one that people repeatedly get wrong because the low cost is often due to a technological advance that results in overcapacity in the industry.

saosebastiao 13y ago
If you think of a warehouse as just a place to put stuff, then yeah, there has been a glut of capacity for over a hundred years now. Walmart has an incredible transportation logistics system. I have no problem admitting they do it better than Amazon. But WalMart still cant compete on fulfillment. Throw in the worlds largest inventory selection (I'm guessing at least an order of magnitude larger than WalMart as a whole, and about 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than an individual WalMart store), and the ability to guarantee same day fulfillment, and Walmart doesn't even come close. Remember, even then, you are comparing Walmart to Amazon...not JoeSchmoe.com to Amazon. If you think it just amounts to putting things in a box and calling UPS for a pickup, I double dog dare you to compete with Amazon. It doesn't get any closer to a pennies-on-the-dollar comparison.

atopuzov 13y ago

Totally!