
Surging online orders slow Wal-Mart delivery network - petethomas
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-delays/surging-online-orders-slow-wal-mart-delivery-network-idUSKBN1E0380
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aj7
The dirty little secret is that Walmart (Walmart!) and Costco’s online
ordering systems work better than Amazon’s. Amazon is obsessed with selling
you things you don’t want. Meanwhile, you don’t have to even be a Costco
member to shop online at Costco- they charge you a teeny fine. And much stuff
you can pick up at Walmart: free shipping, and if there’s something wrong,
you’re right there.

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jrmg
Target Red card members get 5% off posted prices and free shipping from
target.com. I’ve been very happy with them. The choice is more limited than
Amazon, but it’s larger than what they have in store.

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wmeredith
It’s also not flooded with knock offs.

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dwyerm
I've been doing ecommerce for years, and I think one of the best-kept secrets
of the industry is that their fulfillment systems exist. Even inside of the
company, the warehouse guys seem like they're second-class citizens. But I
think if you're honest the warehouse management systems are where the science
part of computer science really lands. You are doing _literal_ knapsack
problems and Eulerian paths. Queues and schedules and producer/consumer
problems abound!

Oddly, evidence seems to suggest that companies can get by with treating their
fulfillment systems as unimportant, but I have to think there is some value in
recognizing their value and getting them tooled up before a surge of orders
comes in on the front-end and there's no capacity on the back-end to handle
them.

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kirykl
It's not really a secret source of benefits, its just that fulfillment is a
viewed cost center and doesn't get as much investment as revenue generating
activities

