Community Chat

[Puppy Lips]

Well to all of you who think it is no big deal, and no loss, for local brick and motar stores to disappear, I disagree.  In addition to the loss of local jobs, there will now be vacant buildings.  Vacant buildings can become in disrepair and an eyesore.  They can invite crime into the area as well as reduce local income and property taxes.  Unemployed people who can not find another job may turn to selling and or using drugs. There are only so many jobs to go around.

Only shopping online has several disadvantages as well -- you are only seeing the products they decide to offer.  Stores may offer a much wider range of products or lines that you did not even know about.  Plus, you can see and touch something in a store before you decide to buy it.

To blame top store CEOs or other top management as being short-sighted is really unfair.

To all of you who only shop online -- you reap what you sow.  I know many people can not get out to local stores, but many can.  If this keeps up, there won't be many local stores left, and I don't foresee that as being a good thing.

[Spurt]

@Cats3000

Here's proof of pricing strategy from the Wall Street Journal I cant put the links because of the ads on the page and on Qs Forum Guidelines the links which contain ads arent allowed....

Amazon’s Pricing Strategy

Amazon’s pricing strategy is different than its competitors by a landslide as it tackles industries preventing competition from keeping up. 

The Amazon pricing strategy crushes the competition due to the number of adjustments and speed in a single day. Amazon changes prices on about 40 million products in just one day. By the end of a  year the number had doubled to 80 million price changes during a single day. How would competition keep up with this? With Amazon’s pricing strategy, they fluctuate their prices at a rate that competitors such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and Toys R Us cannot battle. While Amazon can alter their prices by the thousands per day, their counterparts only reach the hundreds range. This overload of price changes is one that many people may not even notice, but it keeps Amazon ahead of the pack in more ways than one.

Amazon is focused on keeping prices low and offering a wide selection. Due to the deals that they have daily, they are able to achieve this with ease. Their customer base is loyal and ultimately benefit resulting in Amazon benefiting as well.

Amazon is viewed as innovative and does not really focus on having competition. They set the bar and set the bar high enough to excel above any brands that were deemed viable competitors. Amazon continuously take over industries whether it’s electronics, book stores, apparel, or media. They have created a system that at this point cannot be countered.

Here's an example of what they are doing with the purchase of Whole Foods:

 Amazon has cut the prices of Whole Foods products from organic bananas and eggs to farmed salmon. The brand is quickly reshaping and burying the nickname “whole paycheck.”

Amazon’s CEO of Worldwide Consumer, Jeff Wilke, released a statement regarding the price cuts at Whole Foods:  We will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market’s long-held commitment to the highest standards.”

Staying true to the organic selection keeps the current and frequent shoppers buying from Whole Foods. On the other hand, lowering the prices puts competition under pressure. This includes: Kroger, Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and Sprouts. Prices were cut as high as 43%.

One thing they do that they like according to the article and QVC PLEASE TAKE NOTE-

Their marketing strategy uses data that gives customers what they want. Competition, in a way, is nonexistent. They are not following trends of what competitors are doing. They take the hard trends that exist and create their own models and strategies.

There are not many companies that come close to the success of Amazon. There’s only been one, Alibaba. At one point, they surpassed Amazon. Unfortunately, their downfall has propelled Amazon to new heights.

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(Oh BTW now Amazon is considering going into banking00My 2 cents-If alibaba fell, Amazon too will fall one day-JMHO)...........

[Cakers3]

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@Puppy Lipswrote:

Well to all of you who think it is no big deal, and no loss, for local brick and motar stores to disappear, I disagree.  In addition to the loss of local jobs, there will now be vacant buildings.  Vacant buildings can become in disrepair and an eyesore.  They can invite crime into the area as well as reduce local income and property taxes.  Unemployed people who can not find another job may turn to selling and or using drugs. There are only so many jobs to go around.

Only shopping online has several disadvantages as well -- you are only seeing the products they decide to offer.  Stores may offer a much wider range of products or lines that you did not even know about.  Plus, you can see and touch something in a store before you decide to buy it.

To blame top store CEOs or other top management as being short-sighted is really unfair.

To all of you who only shop online -- you reap what you sow.  I know many people can not get out to local stores, but many can.  If this keeps up, there won't be many local stores left, and I don't foresee that as being a good thing.

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@Puppy Lips  Not sure what this means.  Shopping online has been taking off since the 1990's.  I don't see what a person is going to reap for shopping online.

Also: turning to drugs because you are unemployed is on that person, not anybody who shops online. 

[Spurt]

@gardenman

I remember Service Merchandise...when I was a kid I hated it when my mom went to that store...I thought it was BORING!!....LOL!

[gardenman]

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@Spurtwrote:

@gardenman

I remember Service Merchandise...when I was a kid I hated it when my mom went to that store...I thought it was BORING!!....LOL!

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I loved all three of the catalog showrooms. They typically had the lowest prices, the biggest selection, and it was neat (to me anyway) to watch your stuff come out of the back on the conveyor belt. With automation you could speed up the process dramatically and over time, lower costs even more. You could sell everything a Wal-Mart Supercenter sells in about a quarter of the square footage, and with a tenth of the human labor. That type of store, done right, could unseat Walmart, Target and threaten Amazon. 

[Puppy Lips]

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@Cakers3wrote:

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@Puppy Lipswrote:

Well to all of you who think it is no big deal, and no loss, for local brick and motar stores to disappear, I disagree.  In addition to the loss of local jobs, there will now be vacant buildings.  Vacant buildings can become in disrepair and an eyesore.  They can invite crime into the area as well as reduce local income and property taxes.  Unemployed people who can not find another job may turn to selling and or using drugs. There are only so many jobs to go around.

Only shopping online has several disadvantages as well -- you are only seeing the products they decide to offer.  Stores may offer a much wider range of products or lines that you did not even know about.  Plus, you can see and touch something in a store before you decide to buy it.

To blame top store CEOs or other top management as being short-sighted is really unfair.

To all of you who only shop online -- you reap what you sow.  I know many people can not get out to local stores, but many can.  If this keeps up, there won't be many local stores left, and I don't foresee that as being a good thing.

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@Puppy Lips  Not sure what this means.  Shopping online has been taking off since the 1990's.  I don't see what a person is going to reap for shopping online.

Also: turning to drugs because you are unemployed is on that person, not anybody who shops online. 

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@Cakers3What I meant was, that with society as a whole shopping more and more online, what you are going to get is stores closing and not coming back.  There will be consequences, and not all good.  As far as unemployed workers, of course they will not all turn to drugs, maybe only a very small percentage.  When people don't have a job/career/purpose, I think they are more likely to get involved in destructive behavior.

I just get tired of the attitude that so many people have who think Amazon is all they need and to H+++ with all the brick and motar stores, that it is their fault for going out of business.  One poster on another thread said they "deserve" to go out of business.  It is all okay when it is someone else's job.  Just wait until they come after yours.

[gidgetgh]

Washington Post is reporting that Toys R Us will close or sell its 800 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores. 33,000 Jobs. 

[lovesrecess]

You can shop online without buying from Amazon.

[lovesrecess]

Toys R Us has always been far more expensive than every other place that sells toys, on or off the internet. They can't blame online stores for their failure....sounds like poor management.

[lovesrecess]

QVC is not a brick and mortar store......the irony!