Quality. I might be out of touch, but I think a coming consumer focus on quality will change retail and manufacturing.
> because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. … [I]n our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that’s going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection. [-Bezos]
Quality is more important than price, delivery and selection for a large, and increasing, number of goods. If you buy an air-conditioner or t-shirts you want good quality, but only need reasonable price, delivery and selection.
> Amazon will only be brought down by ... a paradigm shift in how we consume physical products
Buying clubs that focus on Quality are the future. Consumers will be freed of toothpaste brands and marketing, and instead get a cheap, effective, quality toothpaste selected by their buying club. And the club will focus on protecting the customer and auditing the manufacturer, rather than enabling marketing and an irrational focus on price.
Amazon won't be able to compete because it works against every system they've built. Instead of a variety of manufacturers, brands and sellers, buying groups will go down the path of vertical integration: work closer with manufacturers ignoring brands and marketing, buying manufacturers to reduce costs, internalizing fulfillment, etc...
If the buying clubs are merely brand selectors, or discount clubs, or product reviewers, they can be easily integrated into Amazon systems. But if buying clubs are focused on the best product for their members, Amazon and Wall-mart (and everyone else) will have to change their business.
Wall-mart optimized for price, Amazon optimized for price, delivery and selection, but optimizing for quality is the future. (Or I'm out of touch :)
"Buying clubs that focus on Quality are the future"
To a degree I agree with you, but buying clubs are not great either. For instance I tried out "Harrys Razors", but I only shave once a week. A blade lasts a while for me. So even with the "lowest frequency" option, I ended up drowning in razor blades.
I also tried one of the clothing clubs, because I hate cloth shopping. I ended up getting a lot of stuff I Hated.
I like the idea, but there's something to be said for "buying what you need when you need it".
Harry's likes to try to upsell you on new products, but due to their niche it isn't actually possible to create new products. So they've ceaselessly sent me newsletters for years with nothing but new colors of the same handle.
> because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. … [I]n our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that’s going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection. [-Bezos]
Quality is more important than price, delivery and selection for a large, and increasing, number of goods. If you buy an air-conditioner or t-shirts you want good quality, but only need reasonable price, delivery and selection.
> Amazon will only be brought down by ... a paradigm shift in how we consume physical products
Buying clubs that focus on Quality are the future. Consumers will be freed of toothpaste brands and marketing, and instead get a cheap, effective, quality toothpaste selected by their buying club. And the club will focus on protecting the customer and auditing the manufacturer, rather than enabling marketing and an irrational focus on price.
Amazon won't be able to compete because it works against every system they've built. Instead of a variety of manufacturers, brands and sellers, buying groups will go down the path of vertical integration: work closer with manufacturers ignoring brands and marketing, buying manufacturers to reduce costs, internalizing fulfillment, etc...
If the buying clubs are merely brand selectors, or discount clubs, or product reviewers, they can be easily integrated into Amazon systems. But if buying clubs are focused on the best product for their members, Amazon and Wall-mart (and everyone else) will have to change their business.
Wall-mart optimized for price, Amazon optimized for price, delivery and selection, but optimizing for quality is the future. (Or I'm out of touch :)