100+ Years ago Sears and Roebuck was a catalog company selling at bargain prices and taking advantage of the railroads transforming the nation.
In 1925 they started moving into retail outlets, eventually growing into one of the largest companies out there.
Today people question if there will be a future for Sears.
Now Amazon which grew out its online catalog selling at bargain prices and taking advantage of the Internet transforming the nation is moving into brick and mortar book stores and grocery outlets...
Is there something cyclical here?
Amazon Buys Whole Foods
Re: Amazon Buys Whole Foods
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
Re: Amazon Buys Whole Foods
the way I see it is - if all my competitors were opening an online shop and I had a TON of money it would make sense for me to open a B&M shop to challenge my competitors. I think the online sales are saturating as well they need new avenues to bring in more customers. not sure if this would fall into the category of cyclical .JoMoney wrote:100+ Years ago Sears and Roebuck was a catalog company selling at bargain prices and taking advantage of the railroads transforming the nation.
In 1925 they started moving into retail outlets, eventually growing into one of the largest companies out there.
Today people question if there will be a future for Sears.
Now Amazon which grew out its online catalog selling at bargain prices and taking advantage of the Internet transforming the nation is moving into brick and mortar book stores and grocery outlets...
Is there something cyclical here?
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Re: Amazon Buys Whole Foods
Bricks and mortar will almost certainly not be what it once was. If 90% retail sales are still physical, then there's definitely a market to go for. But online will keep chipping away.JoMoney wrote:100+ Years ago Sears and Roebuck was a catalog company selling at bargain prices and taking advantage of the railroads transforming the nation.
In 1925 they started moving into retail outlets, eventually growing into one of the largest companies out there.
Today people question if there will be a future for Sears.
Now Amazon which grew out its online catalog selling at bargain prices and taking advantage of the Internet transforming the nation is moving into brick and mortar book stores and grocery outlets...
Is there something cyclical here?
Clicks and mortar seems to work surprisingly well. For example in shoes: order online, take it back to the store if it doesn't fit. Or order online and pick up at the store (this may be what Amazon is aiming at with Wholefoods).
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- Posts: 48958
- Joined: Fri May 11, 2007 11:07 am
Re: Amazon Buys Whole Foods
I think the last mile problem is, indeed, the key. It's the Achilles Heel of e-commerce.Phineas J. Whoopee wrote:I've come across speculation that Amazon means to use the physical presence to begin addressing the last mile problem, which is that distribution networks are pretty efficient these days except when it comes to delivering individual packages to individual end purchasers. The speculation was Amazon plans to use the stores, which will probably remain high-end grocery stores as well, to get some of its better-heeled customers to bear the cost of last mile delivery themselves, perhaps experimentally like it's testing remote-controlled aircraft.
I have no inside information, but I thought it was an intriguing idea. It's sort of like suggesting that in the future big department stores won't have to go to the expense of printing and mailing thick catalogs to tens of millions of households twice a year, because the customers will use their own equipment, paper, ink, telecommunications, and electricity to take care of it.
PJW
Order and pickup & order and return with the physical outlets being the final point of contact with the consumer.