Posted on 08/16/2013 6:51:43 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Last week a research analyst put the pieces together and came to the conclusion that Amazon.com is going to expand AmazonFresh into New York City. That means Amazon.com will be taking orders and providing same-day delivery to the nation's largest market. That may not mean much yet, but it suggests that the way eight million people buy groceries is about to change forever.
The vision goes well beyond just groceries. Groceries are a Trojan Horse. The dirty secret of Amazon is that it really doesn't distinguish between a head of lettuce and a big screen TV. If Amazon can pull off same-day grocery delivery in NYC, it ostensibly means consumers can order anything online and receive it the same day. By logical extension, that means Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, is on the cusp of rendering every retailer on earth obsolete.
"They're incredible, and they're doing it exactly the way Sam Walton built Walmart," says Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates, in the attached video. "He built it by building infrastructure."
Walton knew that winning over the long term meant controlling the timing of the shopping experience. While other retailers in the '50s and '60s relied on outside distributors, Walton built his own warehouses from which he would service Walmart (WMT) stores in the surrounding areas. That gave Walton a leg up on both cost and efficiency. While other retailers were waiting for goods, Walmart was sending out their own trucks. That may not sound like a big deal, but it's the foundation of the world's largest private employer. Walmart wins by being better, faster and cheaper than the competition.
"I believe what Bezos believes," says Davidowitz. "He's going to be the only one who can really do same-day delivery everywhere."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I could use some 6’ strips of 1”x2” aluminum... I need 4.
And some steel. Mild carbon, hot rolled. 1/4” square, 1” square, 2” square, and some 1/2” round. About 24’ of each, ok if it’s in shorter lengths as long as they are longer that 6’.
Here is where I put on my tin-foil hat:
If there is a real economic collapse, and if the EBT cards fail, and your ATM card fails, and you have no money in the bank, and no job to go to ...
how will you avoid starvation?
and how will the government avoid mass revolution, like in Egypt?
Well, maybe some private industry guy, who is also a player in Washington DC, can partner up with the resources of the US government, and start shipping food all over the country so that people can live in a cash-less society and still not starve.
I think the pieces are being put in place. Property? Ownership? Money? You don't need those things! The collective will bring what you need right to your door.
More than half of what I order on Amazon doesn't ship from Amazon anyway. Third party. How hard is it to set up deals with local wholesalers to do the same thing with food?
I’m in a small town in North Georgia...if I want something like a repair part for a washer, dryer, whatever, or something else for the home that I can describe, I’ll buy it on Amazon. Otherwise I have to drive down to Atlanta, 60 miles to some shop and waste a quarter tank of gas.
I only do that for emergencies like a broken heater/AC or something. Also, you can usually find parts on Amazon that are much much cheaper than say a SEARS appliance part.
Probably not hard at all. They could send an food truck to pick up the food and ship it to wherever it goes.
If there is an economic collapse, and if some company has set up an infrastructure that allows widespread distribution of food, and if the government is willing to subsidize the basic supply of food so that citizens do not starve ...
Perhaps one of the prices people will have to pay is to re-locate into more central, densely populated areas. Leave the countryside. Our food distribution infrastructure can't handle all of those locations. But if you move your family into the cities, we can distribute plenty of healthy food to you.
I think it's all coming together.
Frozen, Natural Beef Skirt Steak,
$15.99 ($1.00 per oz) $16.00 a pound?
Oh yea. They are going to take over all right.
They are piloting this program in two of the stupidest
per capita areas in the country. Los Angeles and Seattle.
At least they know where the fools are.
If Amazon could deliver groceries to my house in 100+ temp. in the summer, I would surely use them. I have wondered why some grocery store didn’t pick up that market. Also, if one is not well, having groceries delivered would be great.
One of the smaller chains here has been offering the service for years.
I would think they could ALREADY HAVE distribution centers everywhere- every big grocery store.
If Amazon deleivered everythign they would go out of businness, but they dont want to do that so they would easily artner with him to sell groceries to him - it would just be a pickup and delivery system, which is already done now, but on very small scale
They would just provide great software for it
If you didn't already include me in that "17" number, please make it 18.
I absolutely loath shopping in stores --- online is a different matter, convenient and I can find almost anything I want.
The thing that many people don't get is how this sort of thing disrupts the entire supply chain. People on FR were up in arms about GM making Jeeps in Asia. I've got news, all production of nearly everything is going to be getting MUCH closer to the consumer.
Amazon does not want a warehouse with 30 days worth of supplies. They want a warehouse filled with one day's supplies. The only way for Amazon's vendor's to deliver reliably (and still be affordable) is to be very close to Amazon's warehouse. A 12 thousand mile supply chain is simply not going to be possible.
Grocery Gateway here operates a fleet of trucks and they partner with a supermarket chain. When a customer places an order, the local store packs it for the truck to pick up.
Ebay will continue to give them a run for their money. Because you will always have the tension between price and convenience. For groceries, I would argue that Amazon will eventually obtain the upper hand. But on other items that don’t need immediate delivery, price is an issue.
A fellow poster noted and I’ve noticed as well that more and more Chinese firms are marketing their wares directly on ebay. They’re completely going around the retail and distribution chain. Yeah, it might take a few weeks to get it shipped from China. But if you can get it for 50% less than you can anywhere else, do you care?
One last thing to note is the predictable rise of black and grey market websites where anything is sold and it’s effectively outside of governmental control. The most famous of these being silk road.
Jeff Bezos will use the Washington Post to expand his influence to get a law passed forcing you to buy things from Amazon? (since he knows John Roberts will uphold it anyway?)
“There are probably 17 women in America who belong to the I really dislike shopping club...I’m the president.”
The next time there is a presidential election for the dislike shopping club, I will run against you. I use Amazon for everything except going to the grocery. I look on Amazon to see what is available, then check on line to see if it is available locally within five miles of me - most of the time it isn’t available, so Amazon gets my business 99% of the time. Seldom do I have to pay shipping.
There are probably 17 women in America who belong to the I really dislike shopping club...I’m the president.
Then i am the vice president! Grocery shopping is my most hated chore! Hours of my day wasted roaming a store, waiting in line and ususally having to bag my own groceries as thanks. then lug them to and pack in the car, drive home and unload, unpack. I HATE it!!!!!
As long as the truck's refrigerated, no big deal.
Where this comes in useful would be for staples, like canned goods, pasta, etc. Currently, I get my meat, eggs, etc from my local place, but for staples I buy in bulk from Costco.
I can see where this would be attractive for city-dwellers, if they can get their non-perishables delivered once a week by truck.
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