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Cyber Monday and Amazon's Online Dominance
sturgeon writes "A report out this morning pegs Amazon with a whopping 14% share of all daily Internet users — almost twice the nearest competitor (Ebay). And this number does not include all shopping sites absorbed by the growing Amazon empire. The original report has interesting graphics comparing Amazon to other retailers like Best Buy."
I needed to get a few items this holiday season:
1. LEDTV
2. Digital camera and accessories
3. Kindle (original)
4. Clothes
5. Toys
6. Books
7. Misc
I got 6/7 items on Amazon. Why? A few reasons: I'm already an Amazon Prime member (as a student it was just stupid cheap and I like the streaming options for kids shows) and the very few times I've had a problem with what was shipped to me they have been nothing but spectacular in dealing with it; usually just immediately shipping out a new item without me having to send what I already received back before they'd send a new item.
I also personally believe the shopping experience is far superior to the other online options I looked through (NewEgg, Target and Walmart). Target's site was slow, cumbersome and confusing. Walmart was somewhat similar to Target but at least their site loaded and Amazon's prices were lower for the same or very similar product and next-day option at $3.99 or free at 2 day killed anything I saw elsewhere.
Overall Amazon has been a winner for me for years for bigger purchases and if they keep it up, they'll continue to get my business. While I don't consider myself a HUGE buyer at the holidays, aside from the clothing I bought for my wife where I needed a very specific item that wasn't available anywhere but where I purchased it from.
YMMV.
....they want your netbook back.
but as an individual using a netbook
You might not be the big spender they're targetting. They maximize for revenue, not for # of shoppers.
Rod Taylor
Damn right! This year is 2x as bad as last year which was 2x as bad as the year before it. Here's ever single company's MO for black friday:
1. buy a ton of something straight from Asia that's way below your normal quality standards from brands nobody's heard of
2. put it on sale near cost but understock it so it runs out quickly
3. mark up things people actually want
Even newegg got into it. I put in a newegg order about 1 in 3 days during my shop's busy season so I know what things cost and they are outright lying about the discounts. Like I ordered two Vertex 4 128GB SSDs while they were on sale for $79. They claimed it was "50% off of an original price of $149." Bullshit! It's been $110 for months. Maybe $150 was launch price or MSRP or something but either way, they're lying to their customers. And even they got into 2012: The Year of the Crappy Sub-$100 Android Tablet.
I've started buying components from Amazon instead of Newegg. For my state, almost every online retailer charges sales tax. As a Prime member, the shipping is of course way better.
The major difference for me, though, is that Amazon's return policy is so much better. I've gotten both a drive and memory from Newegg that arrived DOA. The return procedure is a bit of a pain, they don't cross-ship (last I knew), and you're charged for shipping. You also have to get a replacement, rather than a refund, or pay a 15% restocking fee. If an item from Amazon is DOA, they'll ship you a new one immediately (second-day, generally) and pay for shipping the old one back. Return or refund, no fee.
I just don't feel like paying someone to send me broken items, especially when better options are available.
I love the comparison of Amazon to Ebay's sales. The biggest complaint I regularly see about amazon is when they ship some tiny object in a giant box. (Which is can also be interpreted as Amazon trying really hard to make sure things aren't broken) whereas I read at least one complaint about ebay and or Paypal every day. Ebay has managed to anger the sellers by being totally one sided in disputes while at the same time they do little to clean up the listings to make ebay easy to use. If I want a part for an iPhone (say a new glass screen) I have to scroll through page after page of the same crap like cases and screen protectors. I want a raspberry pi yet it is just page after page of cases. They have no easy mechanism to clear out the crap. Basically all those cases are spam. I suspect that for any search that results in 1000 results that people are buying 4 or 5 of those results over and over and that they other 996 are just making people angry.
The only thing that ebay has improved as far as I am concerned was when they allowed you to sort by lowest price plus shipping. This then eliminated those people who were selling the $20 item for $1 plus $19 shipping.
Amazon has stumbled on a super secret business formula: treat the customer the way you would want to be treated. At least it seems to be secret as few other businesses appear to know about it especially ebay.
YOU OWE USE TAX TO YOUR STATE even if sales tax was not collected at time of purchase -- so pay 'em already you fucking tax deadbeats.
Why, b/c so govt. asshole decided to put his hand in my pocket? If I purchased an item that may have been subject to a tax(and let's get real there's plenty of tax holiday shenanigans an individual could run afoul of), why does the locality get any extra tax? The fuel that powered the truck that made the delivery was taxed, the income used to pay for the item was taxed(Assuming not living in NH, Florida etc). The land on which I will use the item was taxed, so why does the govt get another slice of the pie? Nevermind, the silliness of paying a use tax on a digital download. that has contributed to budget messes for many states?
Sorry, you were looking for unsustainable pension funds and failure to recognize the conflict of interest inherent in collective bargaining of public sector unions. Just ask that rabid union buster FDR. "All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service."
I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
Yeah, the search and presentation of results is really horrible on Amazon. What I've been doing lately is using Newegg to find the exact mix of features that I want and then searching Amazon for that model number to get free shipping via Prime.
They could do even better if 9 out of 10 products they sell didn't spit out "We are unable to ship to your address" for Canadian buyers. I am all but given up shopping on Amazon for that reason... they can't even provide a way to filter out items they can't ship to you!
Bow before me, for I am root.