> Do people really need same day delivery on consumer goods
No, but what I do need is low prices, reliable deliveries, easy returns, and a lot of customer reviews with photos and videos so I can get a sense of what the product actually is, and what kinds of things people like about it, and what kinds of problems they're having with it.
Amazon is literally the only delivery service in my area that doesn't just leave packages in front of my building to be stolen, but actually follows my delivery instructions for a code that lets them in -- and even has a place to put that in in the first place.
Amazon is the only store where if a product doesn't work or wasn't accurately described in the listing, I can easily drop it off at Whole Foods or UPS without having to box it up and print a label, and I don't have to worry about checking four weeks later whether I actually got refunded on my credit card because they always refund within a couple of hours. I also don't have to worry about submitting a "return request" and then waiting for an "RMA number" and then paying for return shipping.
And Amazon is the only place where popular products across all categories have thousands of reviews, rather than 10 or 5 or just 1, which lets me avoid a lot more returns than I would have to make otherwise.
Amazon sure isn't perfect, but the reality is that it's both cheaper and better than anything else for a large proportion of the things I need to buy.
I did not say it does not have any upsides. I said it's downsides (externalities) far outweigh them.
> Amazon is the only place where X
It will continue to be that way, until every other option closes, and then Amazon reverts to the norms you see elsewhere, because they have no competition remaining and no reason to provide good service.
No, but what I do need is low prices, reliable deliveries, easy returns, and a lot of customer reviews with photos and videos so I can get a sense of what the product actually is, and what kinds of things people like about it, and what kinds of problems they're having with it.
Amazon is literally the only delivery service in my area that doesn't just leave packages in front of my building to be stolen, but actually follows my delivery instructions for a code that lets them in -- and even has a place to put that in in the first place.
Amazon is the only store where if a product doesn't work or wasn't accurately described in the listing, I can easily drop it off at Whole Foods or UPS without having to box it up and print a label, and I don't have to worry about checking four weeks later whether I actually got refunded on my credit card because they always refund within a couple of hours. I also don't have to worry about submitting a "return request" and then waiting for an "RMA number" and then paying for return shipping.
And Amazon is the only place where popular products across all categories have thousands of reviews, rather than 10 or 5 or just 1, which lets me avoid a lot more returns than I would have to make otherwise.
Amazon sure isn't perfect, but the reality is that it's both cheaper and better than anything else for a large proportion of the things I need to buy.