
How Amazon Prime delivery hurts Google’s ad business - rpm4321
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/10/google_amazon_competition_how_amazon_prime_delivery_hurts_google_s_ad_business.html
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Afforess
I think Google is at a big disadvantage when it comes to shopping. Amazon
already has a powerful ecosystem. You can become an Amazon seller. Amazon
sells it's own brand of many items, which are all high-quality, low-price.
Amazon has a well-understood review system, with comments. Amazon has fairly
strict quality controls, and if something goes wrong, Amazon will bend-over-
backwards to make sure it comes out in your favor. I have never been burned in
nearly a decade of Amazon usage. I don't know anyone who has.

Google does not has an ecosystem. It does not have strict quality controls. If
a delivery goes bad, what will they offer? Google has notoriously awful
customer support. I know plenty of people who have complaints about Google
products and services. And I don't see how Google can bridge this gap to
compete with Amazon. Google and Amazon have different cultures, Amazon treats
every day as the first day of business, Google is an ad company. There is a
wide chasm between the two ideals. Even if Google spends it's way to parity
with Amazon, they have merely caught up. Being equal with Amazon will not
cause defections for Amazon. But it will cost Google a lot.

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Animats
_Google has notoriously awful customer support._ That's going to be a problem
for Google. Google is used to the advertiser being the customer, and they have
a big staff to hand-hold big advertisers. End users, not so much. Amazon is
reasonably good at customer service, and has a culture of keeping the customer
happy even if it costs them something.

Google sells the Nexus phone. For a good time, go to the support page for the
device
([https://support.google.com/nexus/?hl=en#topic=3424348](https://support.google.com/nexus/?hl=en#topic=3424348))
and follow the steps for "My phone won't turn on". See what you have to go
through before you can even communicate with support. For warranties, they
refer you to Samsung, unless you bought the thing through Google Play. They'd
probably like to send those problems to Samsung, too, but in the US they run
into the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which says the retailer can't do that.

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rquirk
I've had problems twice with a 2012 Nexus 7 that wouldn't charge any more.
Both times Google replaced it under warranty with a refurbished model. On
another occasion - related actually, as I had to set up Wallet to get the
refurbished unit shipped (they make a charge up front, but it doesn't go
through if you ship the old unit back) - my son spent 40€ on virtual clams
(sigh), and when I contacted support they refunded the money. This is just a
couple of anecdotes, but in my experience the support was good.

~~~
blinkingled
I can second that - similarly good support experience with 2012 and 2013 N7.
(Both had flimsy battery charging ports or the kids abused them somehow.)

But that's not to say their support for their other online properties is
existent or stellar - just that they are capable of doing.

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ck2
Amazon's search ability sucks though.

You have to really really work to find legit items similar to what you want if
it not a specific brand name item.

Amazon also allows sellers to list cheap oem copies of products right on the
genuine manufacturer page.

For example if you want a phone battery from motorola specifically, you better
buy it from amazon directly because all the other sellers on that page are
cheap oem knockoffs that may not even have the battery temperature sensor
inside. If the product directly from amazon goes out of stock, then a fake
takes the place front and center.

Here's a specific listing with this problem but there are thousands out there:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MZZQVY/](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MZZQVY/)
Says "genuine motorola" but the product being sold by the vendor is completely
fake, cheap oem copy.

~~~
damian2000
eBay and Amazon have become somewhat similar... eBay added stores and I
believe is now dominated by 'Buy it now' buttons (i.e. not auctions). Amazon
added sellers from everywhere in the world, with duplicated products.

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TrevorJ
Perhaps if Google had not gotten greedy and made google shopping pay-to-play
they would have had a shot at it.

Pay-to-play hurts consumers a lot because the search results are tainted by
it, and it hurts adoption because google is double dipping with it's own CPC
customers.

~~~
sounds
That's a great point.

I came to ask whether it is likely Google will be improving their product
search? As someone who remembers all the way back to Froogle, I still find
myself on product search, obsessively checking amazon, google, ali express,
ebay, etc. to try to find the best prices and to find competing products.

Most often, that leads me to Asia. [Yes, I'm a geek, so most days I'm looking
for consumer electronics.] I don't know but that Google is just as concerned
with Alibaba's recent IPO, and Amazon is just a convenient whipping boy.

As a side note, no, I still don't really take ebay listings seriously. Ebay
and Paypal are still so seller-hostile that I just use them for research and
then try to buy somewhere else.

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pinkyand
> to try to find the best prices and to find competing products. Most often,
> that leads me to Asia.

The problem with the Chinese goods is that it's very hard to locate high
quality goods. The review systems are useless(full of junk) , and there's
little reliable data about quality in english. So amazon becomes the default.

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pmontra
> Each of those searches is one less that Google can use for serving up ads

Those are direct competitors but Google is competing also with anything that
keeps me away from the Internet. Given that we have Internet access every time
we wish, with a phone, any activity that doesn't generate chances to make a
search is lost money for Google. Sleeping, first of all. Make your own list
for the rest. We can look at Google Glasses in a new light: a device to
eventually be able to serve searches and ads everytime we're awake. No adblock
there, I bet.

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vanderZwan
As an aside, I consider "here's why" to be one of the most annoying
developments in lazy headline writing in recent memory.

~~~
cheald
Along with "This X is/will..." and "You'll never believe..." and other
buzzfeedisms.

I've just made it a personal policy to not click headlines that don't actually
tell me what the story is about.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
10 ways to ...

{Stuff} they don't want you to know!

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discardorama
It is true. Whenever I'm looking for a product, I go to Amazon, because I know
I _will_ find products; not spammy sites, fake "review" sites, etc. that I get
on Google. If Google did a better job showing product info, I might use them;
but right now I'm not.

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eli
_" You're less likely to find a same-day delivery-ready molecular model set on
Google Express, but for everyday needs like groceries and toiletries, the two
services are fairly comparable."_

Really? I suppose it's probably possible to order milk and eggs from Amazon
Prime, but that's not really their wheelhouse. Google Express seems much
closer to a Postmates or Instacart (or, uh, Kozmo) competitor

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rmsaksida
One huge advantage Google has over Amazon is a much wider global presence. I
understand Amazon has transformed shopping in the United States, but it still
hasn't reached most of the world. Google has. In many developing markets, a
Google analogue of Amazon would be absolutely killer.

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robomartin
The other point that is missed here is that today, as an entrepreneur, it is
far easier to make money on Amazon than it is with Google. Particularly if we
are talking specifically about ads.

