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I disagree at least as far as Walmart. With Walmart, you can go into a store and get a great, discounted price. If you order something online, you can return it in-store for free. They're the perfect blend of a brick and mortar for when you want to go see something in person and not have to pay for shipping, and the option of getting something online, and have no-hassle returns.
This is what Amazon lacks, in my opinion.
Amazon doesn't always have transparent shipping policies. Sometimes you're buying from someone from China, but they don't make that clear. And maybe your "prime shipping" won't actually ship for several days, so your free 2 day shipping doesn't start for 5 days. And, maybe the item you're buying is shipping from China and won't actually arrive for a month.
Unless you are really paying attention during the shipping process and happen to notice that your expected shipping arrival time is 30 days from now - you're in for a big, really annoying surprise - even if you've paid for Amazon Prime.
Walmart's shipping and outside vendor info is really transparent and up-front. They do things way better and more fairly than Amazon, in my opinion, which will nickel and dime you to death with fees for this and that - if you want to rent videos, etc., and they never trick you as far as who is selling you what and when it might actually arrive and what a different return policy might actually be.
You can order something on Sears.com, and return it to a Sears store for free too, but that is not going to save Sears, and it is not going to save Walmart either. Walmart had the right idea when they dropped "Stores" from their name last year. But they are not following through and actually getting rid of the stores. Brick-and-mortar is 20th Century. It is not the future. The future is clicking one button on your computer or phone, and having an Amazon delivery person drop that item on your doorstep within hours free of charge, and maybe even picking it up free of charge, if you want to return it. More and more people are going to realize the convenience of shopping that way, and it's going to cut into Walmart's business. It won't happen right away, but it will happen eventually. Unless Walmart can make the transition to Ecommerce. I don't see that happening, but if it does happen, Walmart will be the only retailer to make that transition.
I agree with you about the problems with Amazon's website. That is why I shop on eBay instead. But I don't see those problems as significant enough to keep Amazon from crushing Walmart.
Yup. Was about a time.
I wrote about it before...
For years Sears was a family store for middle-class, home-owning America. Not a fashion store, not a discounter, nor an avant-garde department store…
Unfortunately, it’s been all downhill for middle-class, home-owning America since then, and it’s been all downhill for Sears, too.
Sears was never really cheap, has some funky customer service and policies, damaged image problems - and nowadays customers hunt for bargains on the Internet and in specialty stores. Sears is just too expensive and too bland for modern shoppers.
Sears started to decline in 1974 and really never stopped since. They expanded in a wrong direction, they lost their focus and made many executive and marketing mistakes. The last misery was acquiring K-Mart. Combining two losers doesn't make a winner - just doubles the problems. Sears used to mean quality and assurance for appliances, but now they don't own powerful brands.
A focus on successful, hard goods brands would go a long way towards re-establishing their value, and moving away from the perception that everything at Sears is at least 50% overpriced. But they, sadly failed at that.
My Sears Kenmore washing machine has been in my family for 41 years and still runs as good as new. I finally replaced the hoses this year. The package on the new hoses said they should be replaced every 5 years.
My Sears Kenmore washing machine has been in my family for 41 years and still runs as good as new. I finally replaced the hoses this year. The package on the new hoses said they should be replaced every 5 years.
You know that most of it's parts are common among many brands? Mostly all made by GE or Raytheon ultimately.
You can order something on Sears.com, and return it to a Sears store for free too, but that is not going to save Sears, and it is not going to save Walmart either. Walmart had the right idea when they dropped "Stores" from their name last year. But they are not following through and actually getting rid of the stores. Brick-and-mortar is 20th Century. It is not the future. The future is clicking one button on your computer or phone, and having an Amazon delivery person drop that item on your doorstep within hours free of charge, and maybe even picking it up free of charge, if you want to return it. More and more people are going to realize the convenience of shopping that way, and it's going to cut into Walmart's business. It won't happen right away, but it will happen eventually. Unless Walmart can make the transition to Ecommerce. I don't see that happening, but if it does happen, Walmart will be the only retailer to make that transition.
I agree with you about the problems with Amazon's website. That is why I shop on eBay instead. But I don't see those problems as significant enough to keep Amazon from crushing Walmart.
Ordering online is not appropriate for all items. It's not all or nothing. I do not order clothing online unless I try the exact item on in the store. I have tried ordering clothing online before and always had to return it. I agree with you that ebay is superior to Amazon in several ways. But Amazon pays so much on advertising many customers don't consider shopping anywhere else.
I tried to use the Sears.com website yesterday. I would search for an item and the website was so slow to bring up results that I finally gave up. That does not bode well for its survival.
Ordering online is not appropriate for all items. It's not all or nothing. I do not order clothing online unless I try the exact item on in the store. I have tried ordering clothing online before and always had to return it. I agree with you that ebay is superior to Amazon in several ways. But Amazon pays so much on advertising many customers don't consider shopping anywhere else.
I order virtually everything online, except groceries, and I would like to buy those online too, but there is no good option for it. Last week I went to Walmart to stock up on frozen food. They had rearranged the frozen food section, and after 45 minutes of looking around I realized that many of the items I needed were simply not on the shelves. Now I will have to make the 20 mile trip again this week to see if they have the situation sorted out and everything back on the shelves. That type of thing just doesn't generally happen when I order online.
The last time I purchased anything at Sears was 2009, so this makes sense to me. This was during one of their "renaissances" when they had increased stock and lowered prices, and I got some good deals on clothing. That being said even in my childhood in the 70's Sears was at least the third choice of where to buy something. In fact, my dad taught me about " bait and switch" based on something Sears pulled on us when we were looking to buy an electronic calculator around 1976 or so. They were out of the item on sale, but more than willing to sell us an item that was three times more expensive.
Can't remember the last time I went to Sears. I think the last time I was looking for bed sheets and was unimpressed with what they had to offer. Their clothing was humdrum, and had been for many years.
Can't remember the last time I went to Sears. I think the last time I was looking for bed sheets and was unimpressed with what they had to offer. Their clothing was humdrum, and had been for many years.
I went into a Sears Grand a few months ago...the tool shelves were a mess, mostly empty, with random tools laying wherever and no prices. I had to interrupt a couple associates talking to each other to get any help. I asked what happened to the tools section and was told that they were rearrainging it...yet they were just standing around BSing. I asked where the prices were and was told to just ask...I said Hell, I'm not going to ask you to price each item I may be looking at! That's not how I shop...
Then I look at their shirts...$27 for a polo shirt? I can get three of them at Walmart for that price. Don't even say quality because I have polo shirts from WM that are many years old and doing just fine.
I know everyone's loves to ooh and aah over Amazon "Because, OOOOHHHH COMPUTERS INTERNET DISRUPTIVE OOOOH OOOOH OOOOH!" but really all they are, is a mail order outfit, from which you can order darn near anything you might want to buy, JUST LIKE SEARS AND ROEBUCK WAS IN 1880. Adding computers to an old thing doesn't make it a new thing, it just makes it an old thing with computers. If computers had been available in 1880, Sears & Roebuck would have used them for order taking instead of the US Mail.
Where Sears screwed up in my opinion was to become too wedded to their second act, when they de-emphasized the catalog and became more of a brick and mortar department store. This second act served them well in the 1950s through 1980s, but when the Internet arose, instead of seeing that they could go back to their roots and own the world of Internet shopping, they ignored it.
Just imagine if Sears in say 1990 had combined some young people with knowledge in early-days Internet retailing with some old people who knew all about running the largest mail order business in the world. There never would have been Amazon.
A huge opportunity, lost.
And when a company starts hiring financial wizards to magically smoke-and-mirrors them out of the hole they got into because people don't want to buy their product, you know the end is nigh. Examples are legion.
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