> Amazon is a logistics company
We hear this said of Amazon, and that's also Uber's ambition.
But isn't Walmart also a logistics company?
Isn't every big company that makes or moves around physical items?
We hear this said of Amazon, and that's also Uber's ambition.
But isn't Walmart also a logistics company?
Isn't every big company that makes or moves around physical items?
Amazon sells it's fulfillment services directly. AWS should be obvious, but they also sell fulfillment services. Not just whitelabel spam products from /r/Entrepreneur either.
Amazon can do the entire logistics chain from accepting products shipped from your manufacturer to processing the payment in your own web store. [1]
[1] https://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/benefits.h...
Amazon effectively thinks outside the Big Box, and will let anyone sell anything within the Amazon marketplace. I'm not sure if third-party websites w/ Amazon back-end and fulfillment are a thing, but that's a possibility.
In which case, Amazon effectively sells a marketplace, ordering, and delivery logistics system to its merchandise suppliers.
Maybe. I'm not entirely sure I'm a fan of the "Company X isn't in Market Y, they're actually in Market Z" meme, but it's got utility.
The problems I'm seeing with Amazon now are on two fronts. One is that the actual product review/selection process stinks -- too little control over quality and relevance of what's presented. If I go to a third party, one specialising only in the products of interest to me, I can get a far more appropriate selection of items, and I value that.
The other is morality. Bezos is an asshole and screws people over -- techies, noncompetes, warehouse workers, competitors, and more. I've got a problem with that. I may be in the minority, but that is something which ultimately matters. Perhaps it's the only thing which ultimately matters.