Walmart Has Made A
Genius Move To Beat Amazon
Forbes,
by
Stephen McBride
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
1/8/2020 11:51:27 AM
I ordered Powerbeats earbuds from Amazon the other day. As a Prime member, I got them to my doorstep in Stowe, Vermont the next day for free.
When I unpacked the box, one of the accessories was missing. I called Amazon’s customer service to get a replacement sorted out. But what I was told raised my eyebrows:
“We’ll make a one-time exception. Keep the earbuds and we’ll issue you a full refund right now.”
“Why don’t you take them back? They are fine, it’s just the wire clip is missing,” I asked, puzzled.
“It’s too expensive to ship them back…” the customer rep replied.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
A.I. 1/8/2020 12:13:27 PM (No. 282292)
I shop at Walmart. Contrary to what liberals think, shoppers there don’t smell. 😂
24 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Strike3 1/8/2020 12:25:45 PM (No. 282304)
Walmart is rather smart by using this system. Both companies pay for the long-haul freight segment of the shipping process but the expensive piece, local delivery, is killing Amazon but Walmart bypasses this piece by having customers pick up their merchandise at a local store. Over the long term I have found Walmart stock to be on a slow steady rise, dependable but not rapid growth, but profits may very well rise more sharply as they eat into Amazon's business.
I don't care if customers smell either. I could probably be one of them. In my neck of the woods it would mean that they had just put in a long day's work.
14 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
anniebc 1/8/2020 12:30:29 PM (No. 282312)
Walmart has to hire additional employees to move all that merchandise out the door too. Some of their online prices are higher than in the store, though, but if you know this, you know how to shop. Ordering and pickup doesn't mean that you don't go into the store; it just cuts down on your shopping time. The customers for this service even get special parking in an always busy parking lot. They need to do something about customer service (returns and exchanges) though; it's slow as all get out.
5 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
judy 1/8/2020 12:32:56 PM (No. 282317)
I always use Walmart, no complaints. I only use Amazon as a last resort.
10 people like this.
Most interesting thing I probably will read today. Buy Walmart I guess.
4 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 1/8/2020 12:46:38 PM (No. 282345)
I'd rather drive down and GET IT, look at it before I buy it. And I do shop at Walmart.
12 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Nephilim 1/8/2020 12:59:51 PM (No. 282360)
Walmart customer service and returns stink in my area. Amazon is easy to use. I continually try Walmart because I don’t want to spend my dollars at amazon but Walmart keeps dropping the ball. Once they fix that problem then my money will shift their way.
3 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 1/8/2020 1:09:32 PM (No. 282370)
All liberals and Democrats detests Walmart regardless of Hillary and/or Bill Clinton being on their board in the early years. If it ticks off Amazon, I can live with that. PLUS: Walmart doesn't ask for $100 to get your stuff sooner. Walmart gets it to you or to their store's locker in hours. For no extra money. Take that, Amazon!
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
beancounter 1/8/2020 1:53:14 PM (No. 282397)
I often order something at Walmart.com and pick it up, which is an unnecessary pain in the butt. If they had something similar to Amazon lockers in Walmart it would be much faster and easier than waiting around 20 minutes for clerk to show up, searching for the item and then showing ID and signing.
1 person likes this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
ZeldaFitzg 1/8/2020 2:08:43 PM (No. 282416)
I am a heavy user of Amazon because the selection of products is second to none. It is easy to shop there after researching the best product from the many choices. I feel guilty about not patronizing local merchants (instead of Walmart and Amazon), but not enough to change my habits. I don't get out to shop as much as I used to because of recent surgery, and Amazon is so convenient for my situation. I wait until I have several things in my cart before ordering. Nevertheless, I receive components of a large order in separate packages. I realize that Amazon cannot continue free Prime shipping as it now is. I definitely get more worth of shipping every year than the Prime fee, which also includes the streaming video. I shop online a lot and bought only one of our Christmas gifts in a brick and mortar store.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
judy 1/8/2020 2:19:16 PM (No. 282430)
My Walmart just installed a pick up area that looks like a tower? Interesting. I ordered something from Amazon for a 1 day delivery on 12-24 -19 I received it today????
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
john56 1/8/2020 2:47:17 PM (No. 282450)
Amazon is the devil incarnate. Where folks complained that Walmart and the big box stores killed the small business (partially accurate), Amazon is out to kill all competitors in any business. I avoid using Amazon like the plague anytime I can. I am in a business where I sell to businesses in a certain industry. My colleagues talk about all the neat deals they get with their Amazon membership and I remind them that Amazon is already making inroads into our business. I plan to retire in about 3 years, so I'm not terribly concerned. But my thirty-something colleagues will have to deal with it.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
janjan 1/8/2020 2:47:31 PM (No. 282452)
I shop Amazon and don’t feel the least bit guilty about it. I have nothing against Walmart but if you shop online with them your product choices are limited to what they carry. I am skeptical of their plan. Amazon gets deep freight discounts due to sheer volume. There is no guarantee that a Walmart online sale can be shipped locally. It will take some time to see if this is profitable for them.
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
whyyeseyec 1/8/2020 3:23:20 PM (No. 282487)
If Amazon can't get it from the east coast to the west coast and at my door in one hour, I don't want it.
0 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Kate318 1/8/2020 4:08:29 PM (No. 282538)
I use both; whichever suits my needs at the time. My best Walmart story: 2 years ago, I ordered an iPad online from them for a Christmas gift. As the weeks past, I was getting nervous that I hadn’t received it, and couldn’t get a response from the 3rd party seller that sold it through Walmart. A week out from Christmas, I finally spoke to a Walmart representative. They apologized profusely, and said that they didn’t want to be working with sellers who can’t fill their orders. They refunded my money, and allowed me to purchase a different iPad—from a different seller— which I received in a couple of days. Shortly after Christmas, I received the original iPad, but had never been charged for it. I called Walmart and asked where to send it back and they told me to keep It. That it was the seller’s loss. Sweet!
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 1/8/2020 4:33:27 PM (No. 282570)
Actualy, #14, you are quite wrong. I'd estimate that 75% of the stuff on Walmart's web site is NOT something that is in their stores, not something that Walmart actually sells at all.
This is my biggest beef with Walmart. I'd really like to be able to know if they are going to have something like what I want, before I go. And since about 3 out of 4 items on their web site are NOT in their stores and I do NOT want to order it, it is frustrating. I have, a few times, managed to set the site to "show what is in stock", but it seems to very quickly switch back to showing my myriad items I can order, but that they do not have in their stores.
0 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 1/8/2020 4:40:52 PM (No. 282577)
Retail is changing in interesting ways. Amazon has two strategic advantages. First, Amazon built an extraordinary logistics network -- highly automated and efficient. The second, as many posters have noted above, is the diversity of their product selection, which can create tremendous cost savings for consumers. (I found a $50 auto part that avoided a $600 mark up at my local dealership.) And I was surprised the article didn't. go into the Whole Foods acquisition, which gives Amazon a physical retail network to facilitate more cost-effective fulfillment.
At the same time, Walmart has transformed itself over the past 10 years. Stores that were once dingy and depressing are now brightly-lit, and the grocery areas are well-organized with good value. Staff are much more motivated and helpful. It's still not my favorite retailer -- Costco has a better corporate culture and more motivated staff -- but Walmart is no longer a place I would hesitate to shop.
I suspect the decisive factor will turn out to be time -- i.e. whatever saves more time for consumers will win. Life is short, and we are impatient.
1 person likes this.
Walmart must have paid a fortune to the designers of their website. It is absolutely gorgeous; a nice trendy looking and clean look. Think Ikea but with a wider range of products available. You can find what you want easily and fast. Up until now, Amazon had the best and most comprehensive website out there, but Walmart's website is improving at an impressive rate. Just my opinion.
3 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 1/8/2020 6:00:30 PM (No. 282674)
#18, of course you know that Amazon isn't selling about 90% of the stuff "sold by Amazon", all they do is present the item to you online and take your money, pass on the shipping to some fulfulment center. Most of the products are provided by other companies. That is how "Amazon" can have so much stuff......they DON'T have it, a whole bunch of other companies have it and Amazon is just the marketing arm.
0 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 1/8/2020 7:01:08 PM (No. 282723)
Indeed, #20. (My post was already too long so I skipped what you've described so well). As I understand it, Amazon facilitates access to an extended virtual network of suppliers while aggregating consumer demand. Amazon then brokers the transactions for a fee with the added advantage that they don't have to carry inventory and its associated costs. At tbe same time, they create an individualized portrait of each consumer for marketing purposes just as you described. They also follow the Costco model, in a sense, by charging an annual fee for Prime membership and making it attractive for other reasons.
However, Amazon's corporate culture doesn't engender the kind of loyalty from staff that Costco has, and I suspect the customer loyalty is less as well.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Parson Green 1/8/2020 9:49:15 PM (No. 282840)
Amazon is running circles around Walmart. It's been going on for years and Walmart consistently seems unable to get out of the gate vis-a-vis online selling. Am calling pump-and-dump on this article.
1 person likes this.
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