Okay, so we already have small retailers getting killed by internet sales because people come in and handle the merchandise, make a buying decision and then walk out and order online.
Epperson photo was in the news lately saying lots of people come in and check out their cameras and then walk out to order online.
Same can be said of Best Buy and lots of others.
Well now amazon has raised the stakes in a big way.
They will offer same day shipping and you get the low low internet sales price as well(although you will have to pay sales tax now)
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If you thought Amazon.com (NAS: AMZN) is killing traditional retailers today, you'd be absolutely right -- and you ain't seen nothin' yet.
The world's largest e-tailer is changing its strategy in a big way. CEO Jeff Bezos turned his coat on sales taxes last year, abandoning a long-running campaign to avoid paying taxes on most of its sales. Now, Amazon claims to support online sales taxes, as long as they're done in a consistent and easy-to-implement way. Amazon's ultra-efficient operations actually make equal taxes into another weapon in the company's arsenal, because other online shopkeepers will suffer more than Amazon when the taxman comes.
But there's another side to Amazon's suddenly tax-friendly philosophy. If you have to pay sales taxes anyway, no matter where your shipping centers happen to be located, then why not turn that challenge into weaponized plutonium as well?
That's exactly what Amazon is doing now. With several states already imposing sales taxes on online purchases and others due to follow suit, the company is busy building enormous shipping centers in places like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles -- massive population centers where Amazon formerly couldn't be bothered to run warehouses because of the tax implications.
And that's how Amazon is turning the retail industry on its head yet again. Financial Times notes that the newfound local access to large markets will let Amazon offer faster shipping than the competition -- all the way down to same-day delivery. Amazon has a history of offering service upgrades at very reasonable prices, like a year's worth of free shipping and streaming movies for just $79 a year. Another low-cost blow with same-day delivery would pretty much remove the last advantage physical retailers have over online stores, namely instant gratification.
"If someone needs a pack of nappies, a mobile-phone charger, or bottle of cough medicine this evening, the only way to get them immediately is to go to a local store such as Wal-Mart (NYS: WMT) , Best Buy (NYS: BBY) , or Target (NYS: TGT) ," the FT article says. "But if Amazon can deliver to work or home in three or four hours -- and at little or no shipping cost to the consumer -- then why bother with the store?"
Why bother, indeed? Many a shopper would happily give up car trips to the store in exchange for having online goods dropped on their doorstep just hours after the order's final click. It's like pizza delivery, except you could buy pretty much anything this way.
Best Buy is responding to increasing online competition by focusing on smaller stores with lower overhead costs, but it will still never match Amazon's fabled ultra-efficiency. Wal-Mart and Target may be reduced to mere grocery stores and clothing retailers in the long run, which isn't enough to support today's enormous big-box warehouses. And Amazon's same-day delivery could eventually replace the supermarket as well, once shoppers get used to the idea of buying milk and eggs online.
This is how Amazon will kill big-box chain stores the same way Wal-Mart and Target destroyed scores of mom-and-pop stores. Read our special free report titled The Real Cash Kings Changing the Face of Retail to learn more.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/07/15/how-amazoncom-kills-wal-mart-and-target/
Here is a tour of an amazon distribution center:
Now you can order all your stuff from amazon and have it delivered to your door. You don't even have to go shopping anymore.
Pay the $75 yearly fee to join amazon prime and you will get free shipping to boot.
I really like the idea of not having to shop for real and just shop in cyberspace instead but I have a feeling this is going to put a lot of retailers out of business and cost a lot of hourly workers their jobs.
Epperson photo was in the news lately saying lots of people come in and check out their cameras and then walk out to order online.
Same can be said of Best Buy and lots of others.
Well now amazon has raised the stakes in a big way.
They will offer same day shipping and you get the low low internet sales price as well(although you will have to pay sales tax now)
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________
If you thought Amazon.com (NAS: AMZN) is killing traditional retailers today, you'd be absolutely right -- and you ain't seen nothin' yet.
The world's largest e-tailer is changing its strategy in a big way. CEO Jeff Bezos turned his coat on sales taxes last year, abandoning a long-running campaign to avoid paying taxes on most of its sales. Now, Amazon claims to support online sales taxes, as long as they're done in a consistent and easy-to-implement way. Amazon's ultra-efficient operations actually make equal taxes into another weapon in the company's arsenal, because other online shopkeepers will suffer more than Amazon when the taxman comes.
But there's another side to Amazon's suddenly tax-friendly philosophy. If you have to pay sales taxes anyway, no matter where your shipping centers happen to be located, then why not turn that challenge into weaponized plutonium as well?
That's exactly what Amazon is doing now. With several states already imposing sales taxes on online purchases and others due to follow suit, the company is busy building enormous shipping centers in places like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles -- massive population centers where Amazon formerly couldn't be bothered to run warehouses because of the tax implications.
And that's how Amazon is turning the retail industry on its head yet again. Financial Times notes that the newfound local access to large markets will let Amazon offer faster shipping than the competition -- all the way down to same-day delivery. Amazon has a history of offering service upgrades at very reasonable prices, like a year's worth of free shipping and streaming movies for just $79 a year. Another low-cost blow with same-day delivery would pretty much remove the last advantage physical retailers have over online stores, namely instant gratification.
"If someone needs a pack of nappies, a mobile-phone charger, or bottle of cough medicine this evening, the only way to get them immediately is to go to a local store such as Wal-Mart (NYS: WMT) , Best Buy (NYS: BBY) , or Target (NYS: TGT) ," the FT article says. "But if Amazon can deliver to work or home in three or four hours -- and at little or no shipping cost to the consumer -- then why bother with the store?"
Why bother, indeed? Many a shopper would happily give up car trips to the store in exchange for having online goods dropped on their doorstep just hours after the order's final click. It's like pizza delivery, except you could buy pretty much anything this way.
Best Buy is responding to increasing online competition by focusing on smaller stores with lower overhead costs, but it will still never match Amazon's fabled ultra-efficiency. Wal-Mart and Target may be reduced to mere grocery stores and clothing retailers in the long run, which isn't enough to support today's enormous big-box warehouses. And Amazon's same-day delivery could eventually replace the supermarket as well, once shoppers get used to the idea of buying milk and eggs online.
This is how Amazon will kill big-box chain stores the same way Wal-Mart and Target destroyed scores of mom-and-pop stores. Read our special free report titled The Real Cash Kings Changing the Face of Retail to learn more.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/07/15/how-amazoncom-kills-wal-mart-and-target/
Here is a tour of an amazon distribution center:
Now you can order all your stuff from amazon and have it delivered to your door. You don't even have to go shopping anymore.
Pay the $75 yearly fee to join amazon prime and you will get free shipping to boot.
I really like the idea of not having to shop for real and just shop in cyberspace instead but I have a feeling this is going to put a lot of retailers out of business and cost a lot of hourly workers their jobs.
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