Amazon to Have Same-Day Delivery Soon: Will the E-Commerce Giant Destroy Local Retail?

same day would be badass!!

at least where i currently live >.> amazon is a life saver... i ship it to my mail box in the states and then it gets shipped to my island... its much better then relying on the stupid retailers here who only cater to the majority and not to minorities

I really don't think so, but I know it will make me an even bigger fan of Amazon.com!!

No because there will always be people like me who prefer to go to a store see the real thing and purchase it right there. Instant gratification without the shipping charges. Besides shopping is therapeutic and gets me out of the house and away from the kids.

But I guess we'll see.

I don't think so.
Also who doesn't want to get their stuff the same day they buy them online?

I hope not. There is an old time 5 and 10 store in our town and we went in there and sat at the lunch counter and had a genuine milk shake. It was like a step back in time back to my childhood. Nothing beats personal service. Some retailers do chase you away though, such as Radio Shack with all the questions, zip code etc.

But, if this continues it is probably time to start charging sales tax for companies like Amazon.

If they could accomplish same day delivery they would kill many retail outlets but I doubt if they could build enough warehouses to make the objective realistic. For those wanting to see retailers go out of business they should vote for obumbo....the master of destruction.

Things change.
Automobiles "destroyed" blacksmiths, stables and buggy whip companies. Many groomers , stable hands and smithies were "thrown" out of work.
On the positive side city streets were no longer filled with horse filth.

Change can be a good thing. The old ways are not necessarily the best.

But only if local retailers can't come up with a better offer.

Amazon is good....especially when they sometimes offer free shipping.....

and I buy lots of hard to find deals there

but many states are now taxing their sales......
Texas has just approved taxing Amazon sales...

I really like the Amazon model and have bought many things small and large. Just about a month ago I ordered a higher end rug shampoo machine, got it, opened the box, tired it, it worked literally for about six minutes then dyed. Filled out a simple online form, they direct you to a web page that prints out a PREPAID shipping label, I lugged the thing to my local UPS store, about a week later got a email saying my credit card was credited. full price, including shipping. No questions, no hassle.

Contrast that to this... Bought some software at a big retailer. Tried to load it into my system the DVD was damaged and couldn't be read from. I take it back to the retailer, ask them nicely to exhange it since it is obviously defective. Get into a 20 minute argument with some idiot clerk then the manager that keeps telling me I opened the box and therefore they can't(read that as won't) take it back, you (meaning me) deal it with.

Retailers are out of touch. Not only does "service" often suck if you even get any service they try to sell a few items at high markup with places like Amazon depending on high volume at lower markup and obviously in the end make way more profit and customer respect.

I'm wondering 2 things about Amazon's abilities concerning this. Will they be able to get every item to the destination same day, and will they be able to recoup the massive investments to set these shipping centers up? Seems like a huge gamble.

To meny people like to go shopping, I sould know I've got three gril's!!! TRUTH!!!

Truth is these days many go shopping like this, especially for major big ticket items, I often do:

1. see something on the web
2. go to mall or free standing brick and motar stores to see, sample, test product
3. Come home, go to Google or similar online source and purchase

Its the retailers own fault. Time after time the larger merchants have model X, Y, Z described on their web site. I go to their store to check out model X which I like best. Store only has models Y or Z or if they have X even though its the same exact product on THEIR web site they deman you pay anywhere from 10-30% more plus sales taxes often also then adding injury to insult by then adding on delivery charges if you buy it in their store. Do these kind of restrictive polices make any sense? Not to me.

I can understand and would and have willingly pay a little more at my retail store, even cough up sales tax, BUT it makes no sense to tempt me with the model I really want by having it on their web site then either expecting me to pay substationally more at their retail store or even worse, say forget that model, buy this one instead. I've even had sales people knock the model I really want even if they sell it off their web sit in some effort to get me to buy what's in stock at the store.

It'll hurt them but probably not destroy them.

There's still something really nice about being able to hold the thing you're buying and walk out of the shop with it straight away.

Most of the time when I shop I don't have somthing specific I'm looking for. I like to go around stores to look at things and try them on. It's the experience that makes shoping fun and I don't get the same experience online.

Most single items I order on-line are not local, but at times I do include something that is.

No it won't, but it will make retailers make some changes to keep up.

But it might destroy global retail like Wal-Mart! Yay!!

Not completely, but the real question is this:

Is brick-and-mortal retail still relevant? Amazon sells just about anything I want at a better price than local retail and provides better service than local retail.

Many types of specialty stores will still need a physical storefront, but the type of business that will probably go the way of the dodo from Amazon is big box, and is that really so bad?

i like amazon.com, but it can't replace grocery stores and malls.

I don't think it'll ruin it, but it certainly give them some competition.

At least I hope not. Browsing in bookstores is still one of my fave things to do.

I'm just not sure bookstores will survive. With the kindle and e-books I can buy books cheaper and store so many on my kindle.

Yeah, I get that. I still enjoy reading an actual book.

I hear ya there. There is something about actually flipping pages isn't there? I've made the switch to electronic media. I do miss books sometimes, but I do like who I can choose my font size. Eyes just aren't as good as they used to be lol

Yep, something about holding the book, flipping the pages, the way they smell. Choosing the font size sounds great, my eyes aren't as good as they used to be either.

Getting older just isn't all it's cracked up to be is it? lol

No, it certainly isn't...lol.

I enjoy the feel of a real book in my hands too. A few years ago within five miles of where I live I had a a representative retail book store, not just one, all the major names, you know who they are, all apparently doing a brisk business judging by foot traffic, but all but one are now closed.

Same old story. They rarely discount prices, and rarely have the title I want, since I mostly buy technical books not fiction. So again they are forcing customers to buy online and you're foolish if you don't. Why pay 20-30% more and settle for a title you don't really want when in a couple days you can have exactly what you want and often at a cheaper price.

Yep, the Barnes & Noble near me very rarely has what I'm looking for and I usually end up getting it from Amazon. I have a Half-Price Books near me too and I love going there when I just feel like browsing for something. It's going to be a sad day when there are no longer bookstores to go to.

I too love reading an actual book with paper and ink pages.
I often pay pennies for used paperbacks on Amazon.

An example:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offe...

I've gotten a few used books and dvds from Amazon.

You could be ordering something you did not want, because you did not have the chance to look at it.

It won't keep the masses at home. It'll just mean that they go out to do other things.