You have to hand it to them.....

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macliam
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You have to hand it to them.....

Post by macliam » Sun Feb 27 2022 1:31pm

Being out in the sticks, shopping for non-food items tends to involve either a 10-15 mile journey to a limited number of shops, or buying online and waiting yonks for whatever it is to be delivered.

Having been involved in logistics (though not at this level) I appreciate that fulfilling an order and then shipping it to a rural area may not be "rocket science", but takes a lot of checks, balances and organization.

So, to the point. I have noticed a significant improvement in Amazon deliveries since they started using liveried vehicles, etc. The last purchase offered free delivery in 5 days (I do not subscribe to prime), yet, having been ordered on the Saturday, was actually delivered on the Tuesday morning. I though that was pretty good, given the weekend is normally a dead area online.

But now they have outdone this. Yesterday, there was an offer on some clippers I have been thinking about buying for ages. Some offer, £36 for something still advertised for over twice that price elsewhere - and with no delivery costs. So I ordered it - and was told it would be delivered by Friday.

Today, I had notification that it was to be delivered TODAY. Delivery next day, delivery on a Sunday at no cost. Better still, after initially saying "before 9PM", the website then gave me a limited window of 11.30-13.30 for delivery..... plus a tracker on the vehicle showing its approximate location and the number of drops before mine. When my delivery was noted as the next on the list, I kept an eye out, and within five minutes an Amazon van pulled up outside. The delivery was made at 12.23 - less than 24 hours after I ordered it.

Now, I agree that Amazon need to be taken to task for not paying taxes, for their employment practices, etc, etc. - but you have to hand it to them..... they have revolutionized home delivery and are setting a very high bar for rivals.
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by pieman » Mon Feb 28 2022 6:50pm

Absolutely

(though some days it is crazy round here both with different delivery companies and different food orders all jostling for space)

and, buried in the middle of your account is the one of the most amazing things about your whole tale ie you do not even have prime!
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by macliam » Mon Feb 28 2022 8:36pm

Nope..... I'm not for this modern worls, I don't do Facebook, Twitter, etc. and I don't like subscriptions. I've tried Prime a couple of times and I neither but enough to make it worthwhile, nor want 80% of the rubbish on their TV - the good stuff I'll get sometime. :D
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by Chadwick » Mon Feb 28 2022 8:39pm

Amazon have got one of the most sophisticated logistics systems in the industry. Mainly due to the phenomenal amount of data they hold on our shopping habits. The last couple of years have given them the opportunity to really invest and develop it.
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by blythburgh » Mon Feb 28 2022 9:22pm

We get Prime membership when they are doing football and will be featuring Norwich City. Otherwise it is a waste of our money.
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by Sarah » Tue Mar 01 2022 10:07am

I've seen Amazon liveried vehicles on the motorway, but not making actual deliveries. The "last mile" still seems to be dominated by "white van man" here.
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by pakefield » Tue Mar 01 2022 10:24am

Chadwick wrote:
Mon Feb 28 2022 8:39pm
Amazon have got one of the most sophisticated logistics systems in the industry. Mainly due to the phenomenal amount of data they hold on our shopping habits. The last couple of years have given them the opportunity to really invest and develop it.
Like many businesses with their loyalty cards. Unfortunately for them we shop in so many shops for groceries and other stuff. And many of those shops do not even have a loyalty card or like QD and The Factory Shop we do not even have the one on offer.

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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by Chadwick » Tue Mar 01 2022 12:00pm

pakefield wrote:
Tue Mar 01 2022 10:24am
Chadwick wrote:
Mon Feb 28 2022 8:39pm
Amazon have got one of the most sophisticated logistics systems in the industry. Mainly due to the phenomenal amount of data they hold on our shopping habits. The last couple of years have given them the opportunity to really invest and develop it.
Like many businesses with their loyalty cards. Unfortunately for them we shop in so many shops for groceries and other stuff. And many of those shops do not even have a loyalty card or like QD and The Factory Shop we do not even have the one on offer.
Amazon have way more data. The only businesses that come close are the major supermarkets, and even then they only know what they actually sell. They don't know what else you looked at, whether you "favourited" an item or put it in your basket and then removed it. Or how often you checked on that item, whether you invited friends to look at it (or even buy it for you). Amazon also know what you're looking at on Facebook or other platforms, and how much interest ("engagement") you show there.

Amazon then use that information to change their shop window immediately and on demand to reflect your personal interests. Likewise, the adverts that appear in your social media feeds. Amazon know what you're going to buy before you do...

They aren't the only people doing this of course. Walmart famously reported back in 2004 that what Americans bought before a hurricane wasn't bread and milk. It was beer and strawberry pop tarts. So they stocked up and sold out. Amazon's advantage is that they also know what else you considered buying and to what extent you considered those items.

It's well known that Amazon don't make their money from retail sales. They make their profits from their web services and by selling the information they obtain from their data. Actually, that makes me reconsider my second sentence. There is another business that comes close: social media in general, Facebook in particular. Same business model: gather detailed data on the interests and habits of the users, and sell that targeted information. As they infamously did in the Brexit vote and US elections.
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by macliam » Tue Mar 01 2022 12:12pm

Can you not see the issue with your summation here? Yes, data is valuable, but whereas Facebook was able to mine attitudes and "likes" for a wide range of things, Amazon is limited to things we buy, or choose to look at. So the relative value of the data in both those cases is somewhat different.

At the end of the day, Amazon's logistics are based on their ability to organize the supply chain and onward delivery of items.... and personal data has little to do with that.
Last edited by macliam on Wed Mar 02 2022 3:28am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: You have to hand it to them.....

Post by Chadwick » Tue Mar 01 2022 10:28pm

macliam wrote:
Tue Mar 01 2022 12:12pm
Can you not see the issue with your summation here? Yes, data is valuable, but whereas Facebook was able to mine attitudes and "likes" for a wide range of things, Amazon is limited to things we by, or choose to look at. So the relative value of the data in both those cases is somewhat different.

At the end of the day, Amazon's logistics are based on their ability to organize the supply chain and onward delivery of items.... and personal data has little to do with that.
I said it came close, and I meant in terms of scale and depth. Amazon uses it to predict and fulfil our retail whims; Facebook allowed their data to be used to shape our thoughts and opinions.

Personal data is very important to Amazon. Once they can identify the kind of person that buys a product, they can target those people with marketing, and predict the supply chain and logistics needs to serve them. Logistics has moved beyond just route planning and load maximising. Just-in-time reactive logistics is being replaced with proactive predictive supply, and Amazon is at the forefront of that. You said it yourself: "they have revolutionized home delivery and are setting a very high bar for rivals."
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