when I buy stuff online, I am very happy to go to the website, do a search, check prices, etc.
But even then, I'm not going to buy stuff that way when there is a store RIGHT HERE... that I can get it from... NOW... and often at a lower price.
Why press the button the at all? I'm not getting who this is for really. I don't see the demographic.
If you're poor you don't buy things this way. If you're middle class you're very happy to buy it at the store. If you're rich and are just too busy to even look at a site o
If you're middle class you're very happy to buy it at the store.
I think this is the flaw in your argument. You've demonstrated fairly well that very rich and very poor people won't have use for it, but your analysis of the majority demographic is fairly lax. Every middle class person is not happy to run out to the store when they realize they forgot to buy laundry detergent. Middle class people have jobs and typically kids, and their free time is their most valuable asset. The markup becomes acceptable
Middle class people go to the store all the time. And keep in mind... they have to wait 48 hours to get the thing they want.
Forty.... Eight.
Now... would a middle class family rather wait 48 hours or simply buy it from a store when they're out and about doing something already.
Yes yes... you don't want to buy the thing RIGHT NOW... but amazon isn't going to give it to you right now either. Are they?
And tomorrow... because you're middle class and have a job... you're going to go to work... and when you are coming back from work... you might stop off at a store to buy some beer, or some wine, or some bell peppers or some nice steak... or something that people buy at stores... and you might think "oh, I also need tooth paste"... and then you'd buy that then and there.
So... hold the opinion you like but I'm not seeing this for the middle class.
The middle class tends to be quite happy to buy things from stores.
The big problem I've noticed with Amazon for these goods is that the prices are not competitive. the middle class does price check. They're not so rich that they don't care if tooth paste costs 50 percent more. And again, there are a lot of rich people that won't pay that either... just cause.
I know a guy with 10 million in the bank that refuses to over pay for anything. The guy haggles and negotiates everything. Its actually fucking obnoxious but he has to do it because he just does... and so the best thing you can do is stare at the ceiling when it starts and count to a thousand. It will eventually end... often in his favor. He frequently pays 20 percent to HALF what things are listed as because he just refuses to pay the list price. He gets the manager out, he talks about what the thing is being billed for at different places, he talks about the quality, the condition, on and on and on... and eventually he gets the fucking discount. Like clockwork.
Its more obnoxious than you can imagine.
The point I'm making though is that even amoungst the people that could be argued to not care about the mark up... lots of them do care. Rich people haggle over shit all the time. Nickle and dime shit. And those are the people that it doesn't really matter to... for the middle class... those nickles and dimes will add up to actual money for them. And so they do it as well.
Look, the concept of this amazon idea is interesting. I would modify it a few different ways.
1. Amazon is restricting who can offer certain types of products to artificially inflate the price of certain goods so they can over charge for their grosery delivery service. I recently looked for some soda stream syrup on there and they were asking for 20 dollars for bottle of syrup that at any retail store costs about 5. But you'll see them do that for everything... flour, detergent, toothpaste... anything you'd go to a grosery store to buy and on amazon its suddenly way way way way more expensive for no reason. And the reason they're doing it is to hide/subsidize the cost of their delivery service. Their delivery service HAS to charge a premium price. They have to. But they don't want the consumer to realize how much they're being charged for it, so they inflate the product costs and then use the profits from that to offset the delivery charges.
This is a price strategy that works on idiots. You don't see companies do this when their primary customers are other businesses... why? Because businesses spread sheet costs and any bullshit in the prices sticks out rather prominently if you actually do the math.
So the first thing Amazon has to do... is stop doing this... starting from the premise that your customers are stupid... is not a good thing to do when you're going after young tech savvy professionals.
2. I don't think they should immediately order whatever so much as add the whatever it is to a shopping list that can be executed later.
3. Given element one and two... just use the fucking website. I'll also point out that a lot of stores like target for example are doing deliveries to people's houses at in store target prices of things amazon over charges for... and I think the shipping is free if you keep the orders above 35 dollars total or something which isn't a big deal if you have regular things you go through at a fairly consistent basis.
As a member of the middle class, I often find it inconvenient to go to the store. A special trip to the nearby supermarket is at least twenty minutes of my free time devoted to the acquisition, and they have neither the best selection nor the best prices. Stopping on the way to or from work is awkward given rush hour traffic flows, means that a crowded store will slow me down, and I usually have to be getting to work or really want to get home anyway. If I stop on the way home from work I'm likely to fo
Can you give me a rough idea where you live. I'm not asking for a street address or GPS... tell me what point of the compass you live in whatever area... town, city, county... something.
Because I frankly find your position to either be unbelievable or a sign that your local economy is doing a very poor job of serving your area.
I have lived in a lot of places. Some of them the ass end of no where. And I've never had that problem.
So... I mean do you like at the bottom of the sea?
First, it's not a big problem. It is one that would make me think of spending a little extra money, not a whole lot, to avoid a trip to the store. To answer your question, I live in Northeast Minneapolis, not far from downtown.
I have a supermarket pretty close. It isn't really on my way home, and getting to it during rush hour is somewhat unpleasant. If the weather's nice, and what I need isn't all that heavy, I'll walk there just for the exercise, if I have the time. After retirement, I suspect I'l
Not lazy enough (Score:2)
when I buy stuff online, I am very happy to go to the website, do a search, check prices, etc.
But even then, I'm not going to buy stuff that way when there is a store RIGHT HERE... that I can get it from... NOW... and often at a lower price.
Why press the button the at all? I'm not getting who this is for really. I don't see the demographic.
If you're poor you don't buy things this way.
If you're middle class you're very happy to buy it at the store.
If you're rich and are just too busy to even look at a site o
Re: (Score:0)
If you're middle class you're very happy to buy it at the store.
I think this is the flaw in your argument. You've demonstrated fairly well that very rich and very poor people won't have use for it, but your analysis of the majority demographic is fairly lax. Every middle class person is not happy to run out to the store when they realize they forgot to buy laundry detergent. Middle class people have jobs and typically kids, and their free time is their most valuable asset. The markup becomes acceptable
Re:Not lazy enough (Score:2)
Middle class people go to the store all the time. And keep in mind... they have to wait 48 hours to get the thing they want.
Forty.... Eight.
Now... would a middle class family rather wait 48 hours or simply buy it from a store when they're out and about doing something already.
Yes yes... you don't want to buy the thing RIGHT NOW... but amazon isn't going to give it to you right now either. Are they?
And tomorrow... because you're middle class and have a job... you're going to go to work... and when you are coming back from work... you might stop off at a store to buy some beer, or some wine, or some bell peppers or some nice steak... or something that people buy at stores... and you might think "oh, I also need tooth paste"... and then you'd buy that then and there.
So... hold the opinion you like but I'm not seeing this for the middle class.
The middle class tends to be quite happy to buy things from stores.
The big problem I've noticed with Amazon for these goods is that the prices are not competitive. the middle class does price check. They're not so rich that they don't care if tooth paste costs 50 percent more. And again, there are a lot of rich people that won't pay that either... just cause.
I know a guy with 10 million in the bank that refuses to over pay for anything. The guy haggles and negotiates everything. Its actually fucking obnoxious but he has to do it because he just does... and so the best thing you can do is stare at the ceiling when it starts and count to a thousand. It will eventually end... often in his favor. He frequently pays 20 percent to HALF what things are listed as because he just refuses to pay the list price. He gets the manager out, he talks about what the thing is being billed for at different places, he talks about the quality, the condition, on and on and on... and eventually he gets the fucking discount. Like clockwork.
Its more obnoxious than you can imagine.
The point I'm making though is that even amoungst the people that could be argued to not care about the mark up... lots of them do care. Rich people haggle over shit all the time. Nickle and dime shit. And those are the people that it doesn't really matter to... for the middle class... those nickles and dimes will add up to actual money for them. And so they do it as well.
Look, the concept of this amazon idea is interesting. I would modify it a few different ways.
1. Amazon is restricting who can offer certain types of products to artificially inflate the price of certain goods so they can over charge for their grosery delivery service. I recently looked for some soda stream syrup on there and they were asking for 20 dollars for bottle of syrup that at any retail store costs about 5. But you'll see them do that for everything... flour, detergent, toothpaste... anything you'd go to a grosery store to buy and on amazon its suddenly way way way way more expensive for no reason. And the reason they're doing it is to hide/subsidize the cost of their delivery service. Their delivery service HAS to charge a premium price. They have to. But they don't want the consumer to realize how much they're being charged for it, so they inflate the product costs and then use the profits from that to offset the delivery charges.
This is a price strategy that works on idiots. You don't see companies do this when their primary customers are other businesses... why? Because businesses spread sheet costs and any bullshit in the prices sticks out rather prominently if you actually do the math.
So the first thing Amazon has to do... is stop doing this... starting from the premise that your customers are stupid... is not a good thing to do when you're going after young tech savvy professionals.
2. I don't think they should immediately order whatever so much as add the whatever it is to a shopping list that can be executed later.
3. Given element one and two... just use the fucking website. I'll also point out that a lot of stores like target for example are doing deliveries to people's houses at in store target prices of things amazon over charges for... and I think the shipping is free if you keep the orders above 35 dollars total or something which isn't a big deal if you have regular things you go through at a fairly consistent basis.
I generally think this is a dud offer by Amazon.
Re: (Score:2)
... Rejected.
*crumples up stupid comment*
*throws it in trash*
Login if you want to discuss this in more detail... lurk as AC and get more of the same.
Re: (Score:2)
As a member of the middle class, I often find it inconvenient to go to the store. A special trip to the nearby supermarket is at least twenty minutes of my free time devoted to the acquisition, and they have neither the best selection nor the best prices. Stopping on the way to or from work is awkward given rush hour traffic flows, means that a crowded store will slow me down, and I usually have to be getting to work or really want to get home anyway. If I stop on the way home from work I'm likely to fo
Re: (Score:2)
Can you give me a rough idea where you live. I'm not asking for a street address or GPS... tell me what point of the compass you live in whatever area... town, city, county... something.
Because I frankly find your position to either be unbelievable or a sign that your local economy is doing a very poor job of serving your area.
I have lived in a lot of places. Some of them the ass end of no where. And I've never had that problem.
So... I mean do you like at the bottom of the sea?
I am from the US... we have st
Re: (Score:2)
First, it's not a big problem. It is one that would make me think of spending a little extra money, not a whole lot, to avoid a trip to the store. To answer your question, I live in Northeast Minneapolis, not far from downtown.
I have a supermarket pretty close. It isn't really on my way home, and getting to it during rush hour is somewhat unpleasant. If the weather's nice, and what I need isn't all that heavy, I'll walk there just for the exercise, if I have the time. After retirement, I suspect I'l
Re: Not lazy enough (Score:2)
as I said, the prices are not competitive. never trust an unlisted price.