Do Amazon Sellers Need a Walmart Strategy?

by: Snapped

The thing that a ‘pure’ online venue lacks, has always lacked, is some element of ‘tangible’ proximity to their customers.  By design of course.  Part of the original ‘cost savings’ advantaging a comparatively cheaper infrastructure overhead.  

But ya know, people still go out.  Many want their items at hand, or at least close enough to be an affordable ship cost and/or time savings.  This applies even to many more rural locations, though it tends to even out in the convenience department at a much lower price point and category, meaning more on line opportunity.   Not to disagree with Mr Martindale’s conclusions as described in the OP, however, they don’t seem to include any more data from other than his own experiences, so it would be interesting to see that kind of ‘finding’ too, if it exists for other ‘geographies’.

Meanwhile, there’s no doubt the Mart has the fulfillment and infrastructure physical roots advantage, and that Amazon has even gone so far as to open physical ‘stores’ (while trying desperately to avoid actually appearing to become a true B&M proprietor - which adds both the perception and reality of ‘overhead’ to customer price assessments).  Then again, Amazon has certainly improved their own delivery fleet infrastructure, so to rely less on commercial carriers, while there are no branded wall mart vans on the road yet.  They still rely on commercial, and lately, especially for groceries, on gig work delivery services.  That cost must be accounted for.

In the end though, it really just comes down to bottom line.  Certainly a consumer Group exec may have different cost v convenience threshold than the average mass produced POS warehouse customer, so that bottom will fluctuate based on all sorts of variables.  As for any ‘domination’ of same day delivery, that may be true for butter and eggs, but can’t be so for items the Mart doesn’t stock ‘nearby’. Nor for Amazon ‘bread’ if they don’t contract a local baker, et. al.

Also note, this whole argument ignores small business, crafters, ephemera, vintage, collectible….   No “Walmart Strategy” will likely apply for those niches.

by: LasVagueness

After decades of sneering at Walmart, I subscribed to their grocery delivery service years ago. I haven't looked back, and find myself using the service more and more. It has been my experience that non-food items may be a bit pricier; however, fast delivery, easy returns, and no minimum make up for any cost increase. Inventory is not as expansive as Amazon, but I find myself more and more pleased with the overall quality of merch, and their exemplary delivery service.