
Jet.com’s Strategy: Low Prices, Fast Delivery, Happy Workers - e15ctr0n
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/technology/jetcoms-strategy-low-prices-fast-delivery-happy-workers.html
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thieving_magpie
Jet.com employees are happy. How do we know they're happy? Well their CEO
comes and asks them directly if they're happy. "The company's chief executive
says, “I’m constantly asking people at Jet if they’re happy."” And guess what
they tell this CEO, they tell him "I'm happy". They value happiness so much
they gave out a happiness survey. Guess what? Turns out almost everyone is
happy, just look at these images of smiling faces. Jet.com is happiness.

NYT... what the hell. I guess it's remarkable you held out longer than the
rest.

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code4tee
What a load of BS. So the message is what? If you blow through giant piles of
VC cash spending money like crazy you can make some employees happy?

One gets to put out such puff PR pieces and be taken seriously if you're
profitable, or even close to profitable. Then you're actually saying
something. "Look at us, we run a great business and have happy employees."
Otherwise, yes if you light mountains of money on fire some people will get a
good ride out of it... until the cash is gone then it's a bloodbath.

Jet's business model is, well it seems they no longer have a business model
other than seeing how fast they can burn cash. I wish them well, but seriously
right now this company looks like a friggin' mess with no clear long term path
forward.

~~~
anindyabd
I suspect that the goal is to be acquired by some big profitable company that
wants to dip its feet into e-commerce. Or even being acquired by Amazon, which
would probably want to eliminate all competition, even if its not profitable.
The CEO of this company made a lot of money selling his last company to Amazon
-- he's probably hoping to do the same here.

~~~
code4tee
Perhaps, but that seems unlikely given their current play. The CEO previously
managed to be a pain in the side of Amazon in a niche space and started a
pricing war around that area (diapers for one). In the end, Amazon basically
bled them dry and acquired them but at a relatively lean valuation in what was
essentially an acquihire. In the context of this article, that accession
didn't work out so great for most of the employees. That old company still
exists within Amazon, but is mostly a mess.

Such a scenario wouldn't work out well for Jet employees in the current
context either given the astronomical amounts of VC cash that were put on the
table. Typically those VCs need to be made whole and then some before anyone
else sees a dime. Given previous articles about Jet's fundraising challenges
last go around and a market that's increasingly skeptical of lofty valuations
with little substance it's not clear at all how this turns out well unless Jet
can show it's a real business with real value long term and not just some
crazy experiment in seeing how fast one can burn piles of cash.

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xux
Be careful of this author. He has an ax to grind with Amazon:
[http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/253744/david-
streitfel...](http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/253744/david-streitfeld-
on-amazon-they-dont-care-if-theyre-liked/)

~~~
anindyabd
This is the same reporter who co-wrote the "Inside Amazon" article.

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seibelj
A puff piece about a struggling online retailer. Seems like a typical
submarine article to me [0]

[0]
[http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html)

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Johnny555
What good are those happy employees if Jet can't provide good service for
customers?

I wanted to try Jet, so I bought a monitor expecting 2 - 5 day delivery. 2
days after I placed the order, I got notification that the order had
shipped.... but Fedex didn't actually scan the package until the end of the
day after that. Then I discovered that it was sent as "Direct Signature
Required", which means it has to be signed by me, not by a neighbor and not
just signing a door tag, I had to be home to sign for it.

I contacted Jet to see if they could redirect it to my office, or remove the
signature requirement, but they couldn't do anything since it was shipped by a
partner.

Since I didn't want to wait another 5 days until a delivery attempt so I could
_pay_ Fedex to redirect it to my office, I placed an order from Amazon for the
same monitor. 3 hours after I placed the order, Amazon sent a shipment
confirmation, and 2 days later, the monitor was on my front porch, no
signature required (for $7.99 they would have have it there the next day)

Fedex ended up delivering the monitor on a Saturday, 9 days after I placed the
order (7 business days for their "2 - 5 day shipping"). I processed a return
online (which was relatively easy and painless), and 2 weeks later I had a
refund -- Amazon does returns better -- when I do Amazon returns, they credit
me as soon as UPS has the package.

Jet has a long way to go before they can declare themselves an Amazon killer.

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latchkey
I emailed their customer support last week because one of the 4 similar items
(deodorant!) that I had purchased was expired and rotten. Even sent them
pictures. No response, not even a 'we received your email' message. So maybe
customer support isn't a priority either. =(

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RankingMember
The fact that you sent pictures could've caused the email to get spam-binned.

~~~
stevesearer
Anecdotal story from a different online retailer (soap.com) - sent photo
showing that the cat litter they shipped had broken open a little bit.

No real damage done as it was still totally usable; thought I would let them
know to help improve shipping methods. Within a few minutes a rep emailed with
a personal story about how they had a cat too and would have been bummed about
that too and then issued a refund.

I like that story and haven't really had a time to share before now :)

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hendzen
FTFY: Jet.com's Strategy: Low Prices, Fast Delivery, Happy Workers, Huge
Losses

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bryanthompson
Their on-site tools are total garbage, so I tried playing with their API...
and it was also a giant pile of trash. Random exceptions, timeouts, incoherent
structure all around. 0/7 would not play with again.

~~~
big_maybe
The API wasn't too bad, but it's woefully under-documented. The sample code is
worthless. I also don't like that you have to implement it all and run it
against test before you get production keys, but no biggie.

The bigger issue: I uploaded my catalog 2 weeks ago, and all products are
still "under Jet review". I emailed and they said some partners have waited
over a month.

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martingordon
I haven't noticed their prices are significantly better than Amazon to warrant
the switching costs, which include giving up one click purchasing and free two
day shipping (Jet offers two-day shipping on some products, and shipping is
only free if you spend $35 or more).

Maybe they're better for household goods than electronics, but every time I
browse Jet, it feels like I'm going through the bargain bin. Odd prices and
odd sorting don't make for a great experience. For example, a search for
"iPhone" returns one result for something that looks like a fishing pole.
There's no product description and I can't tell if it's so you can play
fishing games on your phone or if it's to attach your phone to a pole. Either
way, to see iPhone accessories, you need to click the tiny "Electronics
(10,000+)" link at the top of the page.

Once you actually click into a product page, they seem really bare. Amazon
offers some great tools to help make a purchase decision (ratings/reviews,
category rankings, recommendations), which Jet doesn't (and can't) offer.

They're really pushing Jet Anywhere, but I can't see how that does anything
other than lose them more money. Along with a $50 off first purchase coupon
and $100 in Jet Cash I racked up, I gave Jet $150 to buy me a $300 PlayStation
4 from Newegg. I know I'm an extreme case, but $150 customer acquisition cost
for someone who didn't particularly enjoy the experience and probably won't
shop there again seems to fit with the narrative that they're burning through
cash.

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chrischen
Jet.com has really slow delivery. I ordered twice and they delivered in 1-2
weeks.

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anindyabd
> An analytics applicant came into Jet for an interview. In some ways he was a
> model candidate, smart and driven. But he did not score high in the “plays
> well with others” category. Asked to talk about a recent project in which he
> was a member of a team, he could not think of any. His prospects immediately
> diminished to zero.

I hate this anecdote. Just because he could not, on the spot, think of a
project in which he was a "member of a team," he is unable to "play well with
others"? What if at his previous company he was asked to work by himself for
projects? Does that mean he can't work in a team if he was made to? Does that
say he's not good at analytics and doesn't deserve the job? Or what if he
couldn't think of a good example of a project involving teamwork? I really
hope this anecdote is merely incomplete.

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Splendor
I don't know what to make of Jet.com. I was interested in their initial model
of trying to be an online, membership-funded retailer in the vein of Costco.
Now that they've signalled a move away from memberships I don't know what
their advantage is.

My anecdotal experience is that they have a smaller selection, worse
fulfillment, and worse customer service than their obvious competitor, Amazon.
Their site and product description pages leave a lot to be desired so even if
they can undercut Amazon by a small amount, I'm going to order from Amazon
instead because I have more confidence that I'll receive what I ordered, on-
time, and have a better experience if I need to return anything.

Jet.com has a very large hill to climb here but I wish them well.

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xpose2000
I like Jet and hope it sticks around. I just don't know how it will make it
based on their pricing structure and how much money they can lose on
transactions.

For example, a month ago I bought an office chair. The retail price of this
chair was $160. Jet.com was offering the same chair for $112. I was shocked.
Plus they have a 15% off coupon for your first order. Needless to say, I
bought the chair.

Jet ordered the chair from another website at the full retail price of $160
but turned around and was selling it for $112 with free shipping and a 15% off
coupon code.

My purchase price was just $95. Meaning Jet lost at least $65 on this
transaction.

I just don't know how they will stay afloat without constantly asking for
money from investors. And how long will that go on for?

~~~
snowpanda
I read an article that Amazon has no profits most years [0]. Maybe that's the
financial model they are going after. I share your view on this though,
because until they reach that point, they are running a big risk. It will be
interesting to see how long they can keep it going.

[0] [http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/9/4/why-amazon-
has-n...](http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/9/4/why-amazon-has-no-
profits-and-why-it-works)

~~~
coleca
The difference is that Amazon had no profits in the early days because they
poured money into improving their supply chain not selling products at a loss
as a strategy. Drop shopping isn't the same as building your own supply chain
out. There is no strategic advantage to be had placing orders with a drop ship
network.

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eva1984
Typical aditorial.

