Also the article is worded as if Walmart is in decline- the future is bright for both of these companies, not that anyone is concerned.
I still try to use them as I trust their products more than Amazon. I love their new tool lineup, quality stuff at a decent price, with next day or 2 day delivery. I really like that for returns, they'll come pick it up. AMZ charges extra for that.
Amazon has much better CS though, hands down.
One seamless search option, no pickup/delivery and Walmart.com options. I added everything, including groceries and other non groceries to my cart. I selected delivery. Some items were not available in my local store but it didn't matter. Walmart automatically divided my order into two parts, where it decided to ship me some of the things I ordered (chips and club soda) that weren't available at my local store. It was definitely great experience and the UI was clean. I didn't get any out of stock errors at checkout too. Can't wait to use it full time.
The only reason I use Walmart is that I don't trust the products from Amazon anymore, even when they are sold by Amazon. I once ordered shampoo sold my Amazon that was obviously fake, and then I searched around and realized Amazon has a program where they gather the products from different sellers and put it in one huge bin and call all of them sold by Amazon.com
I can hazard an informed guess as to why that is -- they built .com as an independent company, in order to get it off the ground faster and with less interference from the brick and mortar side.
End result: quick iteration, but now two completely separate supply chains. You'd be amazing how complicated warehousing, inventory, shipping, etc. get when you've got 2 SKUs for every item + a bunch of hacks to duct tape everything together.
And it's not trivial to reconverged them, when you're as optimized as Walmart logistics is.
2 weeks ago I added a Logitech mouse to my cart which Amazon claimed would arrive in 2 days per the product page. Upon checkout I was informed that it was unavailable to ship and I would get an e-mail when they knew it would ship. Going back to the product page and refreshing the 2 day promised arrival date was still there. It arrived 6 days later. Seems like Amazon has similar problems.
Oof, not in the UK. (At least not with Prime.)
Perhaps not quite as easy (for small enough items) as when I mostly commuted, and could print a label and leave it in an outgoing mail pile, but certainly from home I way prefer that than going to a post office (even in the absence of coronavirus restrictions).
I actually bought a printer for that purpose. A direct thermal label printer, because that's all I needed it for (and it was cheaper, has no ink to run out/dry out during a period of no use, etc.).
Anyone who's tried to buy a video card or other in high-demand item from Amazon knows that the same thing happens there.
This is actually changing very soon, and both results will be on the same site.
However, Amazon does have one key appealing, regardless who's the seller Amazon almost guarantees the free return, where in Walmart you'd better take it back to Walmart store even it's sold by Walmart themselves.
The return policy is the one single reason Amazon trumped all other online e-commerce which is not hard to see but difficult to clone.
I try to avoid using Amazon out of practical (e.g. products often being cheaper elsewhere, often have less worry about getting some SKU-identical knockoff that amazon absorbed from some FBA hack) and sometimes ideological (a CEO who rides a particularly phallic rocket into space and then gloats about it while his employees are treated like subhuman machines is an infuriating character to say the least).
However, I'm not sure if there is a reliable non-Google way to search a wide variety of other shopping sites without getting hits for bad aliexpress or ebay auctions for clearly stolen / counterfeit items. I already own a pair of Abibas and that is more than enough :/
I'm at the point where I trust a few stores to not sell me bogus stuff. Target, Walmart, Costco, REI. All are good. Yes I know walmart and target have 3rd party sellers, just don't buy from those.
I am okay with paying a little more, or getting a slightly worse deal to get something I know is "genuine" or well made. Especially if I plan on putting it in/on my body.
I know ethically walmart isn't way better. But afaik they still have old fashioned relationships with their product sourcers. Meaning they're probably buying all their cereals/foods directly from manufacturers, for example.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/comments/ojhrts/costco_is_de...
Newegg is really great for electronics in general
Sparkfun/mouser/adafruit is great for hobbiest parts.
For specific niche stuff check your favorite forums.
Not in my experience. I've seriously dialed back my usage of them, but what started me on that path several years ago was comparison shopping for the first time in a long time, and finding that local stores usually matched and sometimes beat Amazon's prices. Why wait 3+ days for two day shipping when I could literally pick it up now for the same price? Now the main issue I have is all the garbage products with fake reviews.
$610 billion is starting to resemble the tax revenue of some nation states.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...
Amazon has much more discretionary budget to try and extract from their customers, so time on site is absolutely critical.
I'd say the two aren't even competitive at this point. Amazon will need many years to build out a robust vertically integrated grocery logistics network that reaches Walmart customers. A few Whole Foods in rich neighborhoods isn't going to cut it. On the other hand, Walmart will never figure out how to sell stuff online without losing money, and will probably kill itself trying to chase Amazon for some unknown reason.
People with credit cards shop at Walmart too, and there's a significant amount of marketing effort done to convince people to get new items they weren't planning on while they're there. Plenty of people there can be sold new things without going into a "oh, this new toy for my kid on the aisle endcap looks nice, time to put away the dozen eggs because I only have X dollars allocated for this trip" same-net-spending reaction.
(Anecdotally, my behavior is basicaly the opposite of what you describe: I got to Amazon when I already want a specific thing, and I find their browsing experience god-awful. I go to a physical store when I want to browse or shop without direction. Maybe I'll end up with a new shirt, or a book, or a video game, or a plant... maybe nothing...)
If people spend next months wages, that only temporarily increases sales.
Long term I would expect that non-Walmart credit would decrease sales, since shopper’s income remains constant but they pay more on interest so less remaining for other goods.
I have major concerns over fraudulent or quid pro quo reviews on Amazon, and the prices generally aren't the best around. Free (or rather included) next day shipping is great though.
